BlogWonks

Recent findings in genetics have shown a very interesting effect from fathers to their children. While a rare condition PWS (Prader-Willi Syndrome) is thought to be the leading cause of genetically caused obesity, its effects can be mitigated by the participation of the father. So our cultural changes may have led to the expression of negative genes in our environment causing obesity through father absence.  

To quote the release:

The research by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, professor Francisco Ubeda finds that the amount of care a father gives to his child may cause a shift in the syndrome in which its symptoms, in essence, reverse themselves.

In a world where fathers are now considered akin to the appendix, its interesting to find more information that the presence of a father changes the outcomes for the children in drastic ways. Yes I said more, as females raised without a blood father present have lower ages of onset of first menses. That if a human female is raised without a father, or with a stepfather, she matures earlier, and so her time to learn is clipped by biological urges appearing earlier than later.

Until now, scientists assumed that those genes and their level of expression—how much their effect was felt on the individual who carried them—was based on how the offspring drew resources from their mother. In this case, resources can mean anything from basic nourishment to less-tangible resources such as affection and attention.

Such an assumption area a modern thing, as that was not how we thought when we had a more solid culture handed down generation to generation by families. After all, there are a lot of feedback loops in biology, and this discovery shows, that since we can feel things in the abstract, those abstractions can have a serious effect in how our genetics plays out the story of our lives.

In order to have the opinions we do ideologically, the whole of the biology of life has to be simplified to the point where we deny the nuance and subtlety of how it works, and how utterly dependent it is on the structures that we lived under as we journey through time to reach the place and time we are now.

Left ideology, with particular attention to feminism, denies these subtleties so as to control behavioral outcomes of the people who choose to get their advice from the people that even make biology political. Mother Nature is about how things are; ideology is how things should be based on simplification, obfuscation, and goals identified by a select few justified by premises as a means of selling them to the many even if they have ulterior motives.

While they don’t think this could lead to a cure for the condition called PWS, it does lead to the understanding that we are much more sensitive to the things around us (and perhaps political tweaking of such is not such a good idea over letting us be who we are).

According to Ubeda, perhaps the larger implication of the research lies in his finding that a small contribution of resources by the father may influence how imprinted genes are expressed and trigger a change of expression during development.

Father’s presence in the home to provide resources is something that we respond to biologically.

Imagine that.

Though the larger question is: what will this mean, if anything, toward father policies in state interventions and law? While this is the first thing they have found that is clearly and unambiguously indicated, it will by no means be the last as long as modern genetics is allowed to proceed (and a form of Lysenkoism doesn’t take hold).

That resources are defined in this case by more than just a monetary donation to the house fund paid through state mediators, its also love, teaching, rewards, understanding, and all the other things that go with rearing children to be healthy, happy, competent adults.

Who knew that having your dad around could hide a genetic condition that makes you obese, and allow it to be expressed if he is absent?

Somehow fathers knew that their absences were causing more harm than they could express, maybe such research will help put real reasons to what they know deep in their hearts: that their children need them.

Explaining a genetic disorder’s unique shift

Findings reported in this week’s PLoS Biology give insight into the unique characteristics of the birth defect known as Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), and at the same time, may help explain the way that a certain type of gene is expressed in all humans.

The research by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, professor Francisco Ubeda finds that the amount of care a father gives to his child may cause a shift in the syndrome in which its symptoms, in essence, reverse themselves.At birth, children with PWS experience great difficulty suckling and have very low weight. After they are weaned from their mothers, though, their appetites become voracious, and they become obese.

Ubeda believes that this shift results from PWS’ genetic roots on what is known as a group of imprinted genes. Humans typically get two copies of every gene—one from their mother and one from their father. Imprinted genes are prevented from working in one of the two copies, so that only the mother’s gene or father’s gene is expressed. This can be problematic when the working gene is somehow damaged.

Until now, scientists assumed that those genes and their level of expression—how much their effect was felt on the individual who carried them—was based on how the offspring drew resources from their mother. In this case, resources can mean anything from basic nourishment to less-tangible resources such as affection and attention.

Ubeda’s work, however, seems to show that as more of an offspring’s resources are provided by its father, that shift can also trigger a change in how those imprinted genes are expressed.

Ubeda said that PWS, which results from a deleted portion of the father’s copy of a group of imprinted genes, provides a clear example.

“Before weaning, the mother has the monopoly on providing resources directly to her offspring,” said Ubeda, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UT Knoxville. “After weaning, the father directly provides a greater share of resources to his offspring.”

Ubeda found that as the share of the father’s contribution of resources increases, there is a shift in which copies of the PWS group of imprinted genes is expressed, leading to the marked change in how PWS itself affects the child.

While Ubeda notes that this finding is unlikely to have an immediate effect on how PWS is treated, it provides implications for how diseases and conditions that are a result of imprinted genes are viewed.

“I don’t have any sense that this will somehow lead to a cure for PWS, but it does present a new area for those interested in the disease to study and hopefully a new understanding of how the disease functions,” said Ubeda.

According to Ubeda, perhaps the larger implication of the research lies in his finding that a small contribution of resources by the father may influence how imprinted genes are expressed and trigger a change of expression during development.

It’s a new finding, he said, and one that fills in a blank caused by conditions like PWS that seem to be influenced by more than just the mother’s contribution. It exemplifies how social structure may have shaped the symptoms of some diseases over the course of human evolution.

According to the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of the United States, the syndrome is found in one out of every 12 to 15 thousand children, and while rare, is considered the most common genetic cause of obesity.

Citation: Úbeda F (2008) Evolution of genomic imprinting with biparental care: Implications for Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes. For more information on journals please see original article through title link.