Researchers report a possible mechanism for the link between poor paternal diet and negative effects on offspring health in a mouse study, observing that male mice fed a low-protein diet produced sperm with fewer DNA methylation tags, which regulate gene expression, than mice fed a normal diet; seminal plasma from mice fed a low-protein diet suppressed maternal uterine immunological responses, essential for a healthy pregnancy, and both sperm and seminal plasma from low-protein males were associated with overweight offspring with dysfunctional metabolism.
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Article #18-06333: "Paternal diet programs offspring health through sperm- and seminal plasma-specific pathways in mice," by Adam J. Watkins et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Adam J. Watkins, University of Nottingham, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44 (0)115 8230699; e-mail: adam.watkins@nottingham.ac.uk
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences