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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 16, 2025

Using a Comparative Species Approach to Investigate the Neurobiology of Paternal Responses
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Paternal Effects in Mammals: Challenges and Opportunities.

Chih-Hsiang Yang1, Oliver J Rando1

  • 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA;

Annual Review of Biochemistry
|March 31, 2025
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Summary

Paternal environmental exposures can alter offspring health, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This review examines mammalian paternal effects and challenges current hypotheses regarding the sperm epigenome.

Keywords:
epigeneticsintergenerationalpaternal effectsreproductionsperm

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Area of Science:

  • Epigenetics
  • Developmental Biology
  • Mammalian Reproduction

Background:

  • Paternal environmental exposures can influence offspring traits, including metabolism, behavior, and disease susceptibility.
  • The concept of intergenerational effects from fathers was once controversial but is now widely accepted in mammals.
  • Despite extensive research, the precise mechanisms driving paternal effects in mammals are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the observed phenomena of mammalian paternal effects.
  • To critically evaluate the current understanding of the sperm epigenome in relation to paternal effects.
  • To discuss challenges facing dominant mechanistic hypotheses in this field.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of mammalian paternal effects studies.
  • Analysis of common themes across existing research.
  • Critical examination of sperm epigenome data and mechanistic hypotheses.

Main Results:

  • Paternal exposures demonstrably impact offspring health across various traits.
  • The sperm epigenome is a key area of investigation for understanding these effects.
  • Existing mechanistic hypotheses face significant challenges and require further refinement.

Conclusions:

  • Mammalian paternal effects are a well-documented phenomenon.
  • The exact molecular mechanisms, particularly involving the sperm epigenome, require more investigation.
  • Further research is needed to resolve challenges to current hypotheses and fully elucidate paternal influences on offspring health.