(University of California - Santa Cruz) Studies of human populations and animal models suggest that a father's experiences such as diet or environmental stress can influence the health and development of his descendants. How these effects are transmitted across generations, however, remains mysterious. A new study in the roundworm C. elegans documents the transmission via sperm of epigenetic marks that are both necessary and sufficient to guide proper development of germ cells in the offspring.
Original Article: Study documents paternal transmission of epigenetic memory via sperm