Hi everyone,
Here is a Science Daily article about how a father's diet affects his son's reproductive capability.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170215150044.htm***********
New research involving Monash University biologists has debunked the view that males just pass on genetic material and not much else to their offspring. Instead, it found a father's diet can affect their son's ability to out-compete a rival's sperm after mating.
Dr Susanne Zajitschek from the School of Biological Sciences, said the study highlighted the importance of the paternal environment on future generations, even a long time before offspring were produced.
"They differed in their ability to sire offspring, with the high-protein dads producing sons who were doing much better in sperm competition, which means their sperm was more likely to win against a competitor's sperm within the female tract.
"We also found that the immune response genes were less active in sons of low-protein fathers, while metabolic and reproductive processes were increased in sons of fathers on a high protein diet," she said.
The research, published in Biology Letters, is one of only a few studies to have so far reported trans-generational effects in relation to diet quality, and one of the first to report on the post-copulatory advantages conferred by parental diet.
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Acquired characteristics do affect future generations.
Cheers.
Sriram
