Paternal epigenetic influences on placental health and their impacts on offspring development and disease

Sperm are principally known for carrying DNA, specialized cells that deliver one-half of the genome required to give rise to healthy offspring. However, we now know these cells carry much more than just a haploid set of chromosomes. During spermatogenesis, sperm cells undergo widespread transcriptional and structural changes as they differentiate (Larose et al., 2019). During this process, changes in DNA methylation and posttranslational histone modifications, followed by the sequential replacement of most histones by protamines, yield an incredibly specialized cell type with a remarkably unique epigenome (Le Blévec et al., 2020). Subsequently, during transit through the epididymis, additional epigenetic signals are conferred to sperm as they mature to become fertilization competent, including alterations in noncoding RNAs and additional changes in posttranslational histone modifications (Yoshida et al., 2018; Bedi et al., 2022a; Conine and Rando, 2022) (Figure 1).

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https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9716072/

I learned a lot from this paper. Indeed just the background material was news to me, before they even get to the headline information that the major cause of the traits of the placenta is epigenetic effects from the father. I won’t c&p the whole thing but recommend you check it.

This paper is 12 years old now and there’s been a lot more work done since then, but apparently I did not get this memo.

dv said:

Paternal epigenetic influences on placental health and their impacts on offspring development and disease

Sperm are principally known for carrying DNA, specialized cells that deliver one-half of the genome required to give rise to healthy offspring. However, we now know these cells carry much more than just a haploid set of chromosomes. During spermatogenesis, sperm cells undergo widespread transcriptional and structural changes as they differentiate (Larose et al., 2019). During this process, changes in DNA methylation and posttranslational histone modifications, followed by the sequential replacement of most histones by protamines, yield an incredibly specialized cell type with a remarkably unique epigenome (Le Blévec et al., 2020). Subsequently, during transit through the epididymis, additional epigenetic signals are conferred to sperm as they mature to become fertilization competent, including alterations in noncoding RNAs and additional changes in posttranslational histone modifications (Yoshida et al., 2018; Bedi et al., 2022a; Conine and Rando, 2022) (Figure 1).

—-
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9716072/

I learned a lot from this paper. Indeed just the background material was news to me, before they even get to the headline information that the major cause of the traits of the placenta is epigenetic effects from the father. I won’t c&p the whole thing but recommend you check it.

This paper is 12 years old now and there’s been a lot more work done since then, but apparently I did not get this memo.

What? Did you assume that they automatically sent the memo to seismologists?

Ah well, now you know…

;)

Reference	Paternal Exposure Paradigm	Species	Placenta Imprinted Gene(s)	Gross Placental Phenotype	Histological Features
Fornes et al. (2022)	Diabetes	Albino Wistar Rats	Imprinted genes not reported	No significant changes seen	N/A
Jazwiec et al. (2022)	Paternal obesity	C57BL/6J Mice	Igf2 increased	No significant changes seen	Placental Hypoxia, increased angiogenesis with loss of integrity in vessels
Thomas et al. (2022)	Alcohol (3%, 6%, 10%)	C57BL/6J Mice	Ascl2, Cdkn1c, H19, Slc22a18, Peg3 dysregulated	Higher Placental Weights for 3% and 6%	Increase in labyrinth and alterations in vascular space
Gao et al. (2021)	Microcystin-LR	Mice	Imprinted genes not reported	No significant changes	Decreased proliferation of labyrinth cells.
					Impaired vasculature in MC-LR exposed placentae
Rokade et al. (2021)	Inflammation	C57BL/6J Mice	No imprinted genes reported	Changes in placental weights	N/A
Thomas et al. (2021)	Alcohol	C57BL/6J: CD1 Hybrid	Cdkn1c, H19 decreased in females.	Increased placental weight in male C57 offspring, decrease in male CD1 hybrids.	Decrease in junctional zone area and increase in labyrinth in females
			No change in males	Decreased placental diameter in male CD1 hybrids.
Cissé et al. (2020)	Paternal Stress	C57BL/6J Mice	No imprinted genes identified	No significant changes	NA
Denomme et al. (2020)	Advanced age	CF1 Mice	Slc22a18, Cdkn1c, Kcnq1, Copg2, Klf14, Igf2r, Slc22a3, Meg3 and H19 increased.	No significant changes	N/A
			Kcnq1ot1, Mest, Airn, Ins2 decreased
McPherson and Lane (2020)	Obesity	C57BL/6J Mice	No imprinted genes reported	No significant changes	N/A
Morgan et al. (2020)	Low protein diet	C57BL/6J Mice	Igf2, Snrpn, Mest (No changes reported)	Decreased placental weights	Decreased junctional zone area
Innocenzi et al. (2019)	Cannabinoid receptor agonist	CD-1 Mice	Peg10 and Plagl1, altered methylation	Decreased placental weights	Decreased spongiotrophoblast area with corresponding increase in labyrinth
Ding et al. (2018)	Gestational TCDD	C57BL/6J Mice	Igf2, H19 decreased	No significant changes	N/A
Gerlinskaya et al. (2017)	Immunization	C57BL/6J, BALB/c, ICR mice	No imprinted genes reported	Changes in placental weights across strains	N/A
Mitchell et al. (2017)	High Fat Diet	C57BL/6J Mice	Peg3, Peg9, Peg10, decreased	No significant changes	N/A
Watkins et al. (2017)	Low Protein Diet	C57BL/6J Mice	No imprinted genes reported	Decreased placental weights	Increased Area of Junctional Zone
Binder et al. (2015)	Obesity	C57BL/6J Mice	No significant changes in imprinted genes	Decreased placental weights	N/A
Lambrot et al. (2013)	Folic Acid Deficiency	C57BL/6J Mice	No significant changes in imprinted genes	No significant changes	Decreased spongiotrophoblast area with absence of giant cells
Drake et al. (2011)	Glucocorticoids	Wistar rats	Igf2 decreased in F1	Placental weights decrease in F1 and paternal F2, increase in maternal F2	N/A
			Cdkn1c, Phlda, H19 increased in F2

dv said:

Paternal epigenetic influences on placental health and their impacts on offspring development and disease

Sperm are principally known for carrying DNA, specialized cells that deliver one-half of the genome required to give rise to healthy offspring. However, we now know these cells carry much more than just a haploid set of chromosomes. During spermatogenesis, sperm cells undergo widespread transcriptional and structural changes as they differentiate (Larose et al., 2019). During this process, changes in DNA methylation and posttranslational histone modifications, followed by the sequential replacement of most histones by protamines, yield an incredibly specialized cell type with a remarkably unique epigenome (Le Blévec et al., 2020). Subsequently, during transit through the epididymis, additional epigenetic signals are conferred to sperm as they mature to become fertilization competent, including alterations in noncoding RNAs and additional changes in posttranslational histone modifications (Yoshida et al., 2018; Bedi et al., 2022a; Conine and Rando, 2022) (Figure 1).

—-
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9716072/

I learned a lot from this paper. Indeed just the background material was news to me, before they even get to the headline information that the major cause of the traits of the placenta is epigenetic effects from the father. I won’t c&p the whole thing but recommend you check it.

This paper is 12 years old now and there’s been a lot more work done since then, but apparently I did not get this memo.

A lot of words there whose meaning I only have a very vague idea of, including:

Epigenetics is the study of changes in the expression of genes that do not result from alterations in the sequence of the genetic code. The term epigenetic is used to describe the dynamic interplay between genes and the environment during the course of development. The activity of genes can be modified by various factors, highlighting the complex nature of the relationship between the organism’s genetic code, or genome, and the organism’s directly observable physical characteristics.

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Paternal epigenetic influences on placental health and their impacts on offspring development and disease

Sperm are principally known for carrying DNA, specialized cells that deliver one-half of the genome required to give rise to healthy offspring. However, we now know these cells carry much more than just a haploid set of chromosomes. During spermatogenesis, sperm cells undergo widespread transcriptional and structural changes as they differentiate (Larose et al., 2019). During this process, changes in DNA methylation and posttranslational histone modifications, followed by the sequential replacement of most histones by protamines, yield an incredibly specialized cell type with a remarkably unique epigenome (Le Blévec et al., 2020). Subsequently, during transit through the epididymis, additional epigenetic signals are conferred to sperm as they mature to become fertilization competent, including alterations in noncoding RNAs and additional changes in posttranslational histone modifications (Yoshida et al., 2018; Bedi et al., 2022a; Conine and Rando, 2022) (Figure 1).

—-
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9716072/

I learned a lot from this paper. Indeed just the background material was news to me, before they even get to the headline information that the major cause of the traits of the placenta is epigenetic effects from the father. I won’t c&p the whole thing but recommend you check it.

This paper is 12 years old now and there’s been a lot more work done since then, but apparently I did not get this memo.

A lot of words there whose meaning I only have a very vague idea of, including:

Epigenetics is the study of changes in the expression of genes that do not result from alterations in the sequence of the genetic code. The term epigenetic is used to describe the dynamic interplay between genes and the environment during the course of development. The activity of genes can be modified by various factors, highlighting the complex nature of the relationship between the organism’s genetic code, or genome, and the organism’s directly observable physical characteristics.

summary: genes are only a small contribution to phenotype