2 Sep 2019

Heritable effects of parental phthalate exposure

A recent study by the group of Ariane Giacobino has investigated the underlying reasons for differences in susceptibility of male foetuses to in utero phthalate exposure and its effect on spermatogenesis. The team conducted multigenerational studies that revealed that the exposure inherently affects a number of male fertility parameters and that this effect is dependent on the genetic background of each individual. This genetic background differs in a number of identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes regulating the male organs. Furthermore, the second generational impact of the exposure was found on the sperm transcriptome. See publication in PLOS ONE.