2012 - Science News: Space, Evolution, Archaeology & Cataclysms

2012 [ News Blog of Survive2012 ]

Wednesday, 8. March 2006

2012, Wednesday, 8. March 2006, 20:19
Males can inherit the vices of their father - via DNA

Still more evidence accumulating, showing that DNA mutations can be inherited, which gives us the possibility of cosmic radiation causing rapid evolution. The study shows that men who smoked prior to puberty have fatter children than those who don't. Not a big deal, but who knows what else is being inherited besides a tendency to put on weight...

THE sins of the fathers are, indeed, visited on subsequent generations. Nutrition and smoking in early life may influence the health of men's sons and grandsons, a new study has revealed.

These striking inherited effects are thought to be due to subtle chemical changes to DNA known as "epigenetic" modifications (see "Mapping the epigenome"). And they could have big implications for public health: the behaviour of today's children, for example, may be stacking up problems for future generations.

Marcus Pembrey, a clinical geneticist at University College London, and colleagues at Umeå University in Sweden, have two lines of evidence for health effects being passed down the male line.

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last updated: 2008.12.01, 08:36