According to recent studies done by Nature Medicine, they suggest that if the father of an offspring is fond of cold environments it could alter the DNA of his offspring. They call this epigenetics, this is basically the study of impact or change in DNA due to environmental factors. They did a study involving mice where they exposed them to cold temperatures and found on average that the offspring were a lot leaner and healthier. In addition they also took a look at statistics and found that children born during winter time are more leaner and healthier in average as well.
I find this very interesting because it's a different outlook on genetics, to know that the environment can possible mutate our genes in such a way is quite fascinating. Further genetic testing of this would be very interesting.
I find this very interesting because it's a different outlook on genetics, to know that the environment can possible mutate our genes in such a way is quite fascinating. Further genetic testing of this would be very interesting.
I find it intriguing how much an environment can factor into genetics and affect DNA. I would also like to see further studies on this topic and see other "traits" that can be affected by the environment. I wonder if they compared this to mice exposed to heat and got opposite results.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely interesting. In my searches I have seen a few articles discussing environments impact on genes. This particular relationship seems kind of counter-intuitive to me. Wouldn't nature want the offspring to produce more fat cells to insulate the generation from the cold that was plaguing the father? I guess it is wrong to believe in goal directed evolution.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the environment cant play a roll in your genetic structure. Just like Ashley said, I would like to see further studies done to see if any other traits can be affected.
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