Medical News Today reported that a new research shows that the health effects of someone who smokes, drinks alcohol and other such behaviors can affect the health and development of an offspring as far as before conception. The new study sheds light on the underlying effects, while finding out how a person's life behaviors can even impact his grandchildren.
Numerous studies have indicated that a child's health could be affected by the environment and life behaviors of his father. However, study coauthor Sarah Kimmins and her colleagues said that to date, scientists know very little about what drives this association. Most researches in this area looked at how specific environment and lifestyle influence specific molecules that is linked to DNA that control gene expression.
In this latest study, the team investigated whether proteins called histones - a component of sperm that is transmitted during fertilization - play a role in heritability. The team of researchers explains that histones combine with DNA during cell formation. The DNA wraps around the histones, which helps to make it more compact and better able to fit into the cell nucleus.
To prove the theory, the researchers recreated a mouse using a process that can occur with certain environmental exposures. They then assessed the development and survival of two generations of offspring. The results were the offsprings of the mice had birth defects, and had abnormal skeletal formation and reduced survival rate. These effects were seen in both offsprings. The team was surprised by the results; they found that other than DNA, the alteration of histones play a vital role in the development of the offspring.
"The study highlights the critical role that fathers play in the health of their children and even grandchildren. Since chemical modifications on histones are susceptible to environmental exposures, the work opens new avenues of investigation for the possible prevention and treatment of diseases of various kinds, affecting health across generations," Kimmini added.
Prof. Marisa Bartolomei, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Commented on the team's results, she said this is the first study to offer a viable explanation as to why fathers may pass diseases and detrimental phenotypes to offspring in the absence of genetic mutations.
Additionally, last year, there was a report on a study suggesting fathers who engage in excessive drinking before conception may make their sons more susceptible to the damaging effects of alcohol.