sted in Health Day magazine explains how it may be possible that older fathers can pass down mutations that cause lower intellect. It is common knowledge that an older maternal age increases the chances of Down Syndrome and other birth defects, but what about paternal age? Research is showing that an older paternal age can result in copy number variations. This study focused on children with an IQ less than 70. The research showed that 70% of the mutations that cause low IQ were passed down through the father. In almost all of the cases these father were approximately two years older than fathers that produced unaffected offspring. Another study shows that out of 118 children, 90 of them had intellectual disabilities that were caused my mutations that were passed down from the father. Higher paternal age was associated with almost all if the intellectual disabled children. The children with intellectual disabilities were found to have copy number variations, and in most cases the children were missing sequences of DNA. The study is still too new to make any definite conclusions but it does seem that a high paternal age leads to a higher risk of having offspring with intellectual disabilities.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Gene Mutations Passed Down From Older Fathers
An article po
sted in Health Day magazine explains how it may be possible that older fathers can pass down mutations that cause lower intellect. It is common knowledge that an older maternal age increases the chances of Down Syndrome and other birth defects, but what about paternal age? Research is showing that an older paternal age can result in copy number variations. This study focused on children with an IQ less than 70. The research showed that 70% of the mutations that cause low IQ were passed down through the father. In almost all of the cases these father were approximately two years older than fathers that produced unaffected offspring. Another study shows that out of 118 children, 90 of them had intellectual disabilities that were caused my mutations that were passed down from the father. Higher paternal age was associated with almost all if the intellectual disabled children. The children with intellectual disabilities were found to have copy number variations, and in most cases the children were missing sequences of DNA. The study is still too new to make any definite conclusions but it does seem that a high paternal age leads to a higher risk of having offspring with intellectual disabilities.
sted in Health Day magazine explains how it may be possible that older fathers can pass down mutations that cause lower intellect. It is common knowledge that an older maternal age increases the chances of Down Syndrome and other birth defects, but what about paternal age? Research is showing that an older paternal age can result in copy number variations. This study focused on children with an IQ less than 70. The research showed that 70% of the mutations that cause low IQ were passed down through the father. In almost all of the cases these father were approximately two years older than fathers that produced unaffected offspring. Another study shows that out of 118 children, 90 of them had intellectual disabilities that were caused my mutations that were passed down from the father. Higher paternal age was associated with almost all if the intellectual disabled children. The children with intellectual disabilities were found to have copy number variations, and in most cases the children were missing sequences of DNA. The study is still too new to make any definite conclusions but it does seem that a high paternal age leads to a higher risk of having offspring with intellectual disabilities.
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This is very interesting! I will definitely try not to have children with an older man now.
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