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The small round worm C. elegans transmits the information of his life in his spermZeynep F. Altun
We may like to think that what we do in our daily lives concerns only ourselves and perhaps a few people around us, but the increasingly active field of scientific research called epigenetics suggests that life experiences like what we eat and the environments in which we expose ourselves can influence the health and development of our children and generations beyond.
Studies on humans and animals have suggested that a father's experiences can be passed down from generation to generation, but the mechanism of this epigenetic heritage has not yet been clearly defined.
New search published Wednesday in Nature Communications details how Susan Strome's laboratory at UC Santa Cruz observed the transmission of epigenetic markers in the sperm of the small roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans.
The researchers observed that epigenetic information was transferred via the histone proteins into the sperm that bundled the DNA into the chromosomes. It was previously thought that sperm did not preserve this packing of histone.
"In addition, where chromosomes retain histone, DNA is present in areas of importance for development, so these findings have raised public awareness of the possibility that sperm transmits important epigenetic information to embryos, "said Strome. "These results show that the packaging of DNA in sperm is important because offspring that did not inherit normal epigenetic sperm marks were sterile and sufficient for the development of the sperm." a normal germ line. "
In other words, the study shows that the epigenetic information contained in sperm plays a role in normal development, but there is still a lack of understanding as to how the life experiences they encode may affect the descendants.
In an attempt to address this issue, Strome Lab plans to conduct more experiments with worms that have been alcoholic or hungry before breeding.
"We want to know which cells are affected by environmental factors, how they pass on this information to germ cells, what changes there are in germ cells, and what is the impact on offspring, "said Strome.
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The small round worm C. elegans transmits the information of his life in his spermZeynep F. Altun
We may like to think that what we do in our daily lives concerns only ourselves and perhaps a few people around us, but the increasingly active field of scientific research called epigenetics suggests that life experiences like what we eat and the environments in which we expose ourselves can influence the health and development of our children and generations beyond.
Studies on humans and animals have suggested that a father's experiences can be passed down from generation to generation, but the mechanism of this epigenetic heritage has not yet been clearly defined.
New search published Wednesday in Nature Communications details how Susan Strome's laboratory at UC Santa Cruz observed the transmission of epigenetic markers in the sperm of the small roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans.
The researchers observed that epigenetic information was transferred via the histone proteins into the sperm that bundled the DNA into the chromosomes. It was previously thought that sperm did not preserve this packing of histone.
"In addition, where chromosomes retain histone, DNA is present in areas of importance for development, so these findings have raised public awareness of the possibility that sperm transmits important epigenetic information to embryos, "said Strome. "These results show that the packaging of DNA in sperm is important because offspring that did not inherit normal epigenetic sperm marks were sterile and sufficient for the development of the sperm." a normal germ line. "
In other words, the study shows that the epigenetic information contained in sperm plays a role in normal development, but there is still a lack of understanding as to how the life experiences they encode may affect the descendants.
In an attempt to address this issue, Strome Lab plans to conduct more experiments with worms that have been alcoholic or hungry before breeding.
"We want to know which cells are affected by environmental factors, how they pass on this information to germ cells, what changes there are in germ cells, and what is the impact on offspring, "said Strome.
