Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Parental Care

Parental Care

Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, which often have young that are born relatively helpless. Several species of insects and fish, as well as some amphibians, also care for their young.

Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance

Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance

Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...

Punnett Squares

Punnett Squares

Punnett Squares

Punnett Squares

Law of Segregation

Law of Segregation

When crossing pea plants, Mendel noticed that one of the parental traits would sometimes disappear in the first generation of offspring, called the F1 generation, and could reappear in the next generation (F2). He concluded that one of the traits must be dominant over the other, thereby causing masking of one trait in the F1 generation. When he crossed the F1 plants, he found that 75% of the offspring in the F2 generation had the dominant phenotype, while 25% had the recessive phenotype.

Pedigree Analysis

Pedigree Analysis

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Paternal dietary macronutrients affect the seminal vesicle fluid proteome and fetal development: a geometric framework for nutrition study in mice.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2026

Same author

A transparent universal credit system to incentivize peer review.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

Does sexual dimorphism reflect sexual antagonism? Covariation of female fitness with brothers' sexual traits and their female homologues in neriid flies.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2025

Same author

Sexual conflict as a constraint on asexual reproduction: an empirical review.

Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·2025

Same author

Drift and dispersal hinder the evolution of facultative asexual reproduction.

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution·2025

Same author

Dietary macronutrients modulate the proteome of brown adipose tissue in males and their female offspring.

Cell reports·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Stable Isotope In-Vivo Labeling for Mass-Spectrometry Identification of Paternal Metabolites Transferred from Sperm to Oocyte During Fertilization

Stable Isotope In-Vivo Labeling for Mass-Spectrometry Identification of Paternal Metabolites Transferred from Sperm to Oocyte During Fertilization

Published on: June 17, 2025

What is a paternal effect?

Angela J Crean¹, Russell Bonduriansky¹

¹Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, and School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

|August 19, 2014

Summary

Paternal effects, or nongenetic influences from fathers, are important but poorly understood. This study clarifies types of paternal effects and their evolutionary consequences, distinguishing them from maternal influences.

Keywords:

differential allocation maternal effects nongenetic inheritance parental effects paternal effects

More Related Videos

Using a Comparative Species Approach to Investigate the Neurobiology of Paternal Responses

Using a Comparative Species Approach to Investigate the Neurobiology of Paternal Responses

Published on: September 19, 2011

Determining the Role of Maternally-Expressed Genes in Early Development with Maternal Crispants

Determining the Role of Maternally-Expressed Genes in Early Development with Maternal Crispants

Published on: December 21, 2021

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Stable Isotope In-Vivo Labeling for Mass-Spectrometry Identification of Paternal Metabolites Transferred from Sperm to Oocyte During Fertilization

Stable Isotope In-Vivo Labeling for Mass-Spectrometry Identification of Paternal Metabolites Transferred from Sperm to Oocyte During Fertilization

Published on: June 17, 2025

Using a Comparative Species Approach to Investigate the Neurobiology of Paternal Responses

Using a Comparative Species Approach to Investigate the Neurobiology of Paternal Responses

Published on: September 19, 2011

Determining the Role of Maternally-Expressed Genes in Early Development with Maternal Crispants

Determining the Role of Maternally-Expressed Genes in Early Development with Maternal Crispants

Published on: December 21, 2021

Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Behavioral ecology
Genetics

Background:

Maternal effects are recognized as non-genetic parental influences on offspring.
Paternal effects were historically viewed as anomalies but are now known to be widespread and significant.
The proximate mechanisms and evolutionary outcomes of paternal effects remain understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

To clarify the different types of paternal effects.
To delineate the role of maternal responses in mediating paternal effects.
To provide a research roadmap for understanding the proximate basis and evolutionary implications of paternal effects.

Main Methods:

Conceptual review and synthesis of existing literature.
Distinction of three basic types of paternal effects.
Analysis of the interplay between paternal and maternal influences.

Main Results:

Paternal effects are diverse and play a crucial role in offspring development.
Maternal responses, such as differential allocation, can blur the lines between maternal and paternal effects.
A framework is proposed to categorize paternal effects.

Conclusions:

Further research is needed to understand the proximate mechanisms driving paternal effects.
Clarifying paternal effects is essential for a comprehensive understanding of parental influences and evolutionary processes.
The proposed framework will guide future investigations into the evolutionary significance of paternal contributions.