Paternal Diet Can Affect Genes And Health Of Offspring, Research Suggests

Dec. AUSTIN, Texas — Environmental influences experienced by a father can be passed down to the next generation, "reprogramming" how genes function in offspring, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) have discovered. A new study published this week in Cell shows environmental cues — in this case, diet — influence genes in mammals from one generation to the next, evidence that until now has been sparse. These insights, coupled with previous human epidemiological studies, suggest paternal environmental effects may play a more important role in complex diseases such as diabetes and heart disease than previously believed. "Knowing what your parents were doing before you were conceived is turning out to be important in determining what disease risk factors you may be carrying," said Oliver Rando , associate professor of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology at UMMS and coauthor of the study with Hans Hofmann , associate professor of integrative biology at The University of Texas at Austin. The study details how paternal diet can increase production of cholesterol synthesis genes in first-generation offspring. The human genome is often described as the set of instructions that govern the development and functioning of life.