Mother’s love is linked to daddy’s genes
Afather’s genes can influence the quality of care a newborn receives from its mother, a study has found. Researchers from Cardiff University in the UK investigated the hormonal signals given off from the placenta during pregnancy. The placenta transports nutrients to the growing foetus during pregnancy and gives off hormonal signals in the mother’s bloodstream to establish and maintain a successful pregnancy.
As well as being involved in nurturing the baby throughout the pregnancy, the placental signals are thought to be important for programming a mother’s behaviour, preparing them for their new role as a parent.
These hormones are produced by placental cells called spongiotrophoblasts, whose proliferation, and therefore whose hormone output, is held in check by a gene called Phlda2. However, like most genes, the developing foetus has two copies of the Phlda2 gene, but unlike most genes, only one copy of Phlda2 is active.
This is due to an evolutionarily intriguing phenomenon called genomic imprinting, whereby only the gene copy from one parent is switched on. Using genetically altered mice, the researchers asked what happened if both copies of the foetus’ Phlda2 gene were active, a “maternalised” condition, or if both were silent, a “paternalised” condition. They found that mothers exposed