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EPIGENETICS

Preconception cold–induced epigenetic inheritance

Nature Medicine volume 24, pages 1308–1309 (2018)Cite this article

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Preconception cold–induced alterations of sperm DNA methylation result in offspring with altered brown adipose tissue and improved adaptation to overnutrition and hypothermia.

Environmental exposures have been shown to promote epigenetic alterations in the germline (that is, the sperm or the egg) that may be inherited, which allows traits to be transmitted between generations1. This nongenetic form of inheritance allows the environment to alter the phenotypes and pathologies of subsequent generations. A wide variety of environmental factors, such as toxicants, nutrition and stress, have been shown to influence epigenetic inheritance1. Temperature is one of the main climate-associated environmental factors to which nearly all organisms are required to respond in order to survive, and temperature-induced epigenetic inheritance in flies, mosquitos, fish and plants has been observed2,3,4,5,6. Sun et al.7 now show that a similar phenomenon occurs in mammals. In a study involving over 8,000 people, the authors show that participants had differences in brown fat characteristics and metabolic phenotypes depending on whether they were conceived in a cold versus a warm season or environment. This phenotype appears to be primarily paternally transmitted. The identification of cold-induced epigenetic inheritance in mammals, including humans, helps to explain some of the physiological parameters that have evolved and the impacts on human health observed in the present.

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Fig. 1: Preconception exposure to cold alters offspring traits.

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Acknowledgements

I thank H. Johnson for assistance in preparation of this manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH; ES012974) and the John Templeton Foundation (50183) to M.K.S.

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  1. Center for Reproductive Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Michael K. Skinner

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  1. Michael K. Skinner
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Correspondence to Michael K. Skinner.

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Skinner, M.K. Preconception cold–induced epigenetic inheritance. Nat Med 24, 1308–1309 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-018-0187-3

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