Can a father influence his daughter’s maternal behaviour?

Parental imprinting is an epigenetic mechanism that allows the control of gene expression. At the time of conception, the offspring inherits a copy of each autosomal gene from each parent. However, in a small number of genes found in mammals, one of the two inherited alleles is inactivated.

Peg3 is strongly expressed in the hypothalamus, which suggests that parental imprinting would affect behaviour. Champagne, Curley et al. have recently conducted a study on mice models to explore the role of the paternally expressed gen Peg3 in the behaviour of adult female mice. It was found that the expression of the paternally expressed gene Peg3 is critical for regulating mother-infant interactions. Disruption to Peg3 on mice was demonstrated to have deleterious consequences on important features of maternal behaviour such as nursing and licking/grooming of pups during postpartum period.

In humans, it hasn’t been demonstrated yet that Peg3 has the same behavioural effects, however, similarities on the expression and sequence of this gene in both humans and mice suggests that there could not be radical differences on its function.

REFERENCE: Champagne FA, Curley JP, Swaney WT, Hasen NS, Keverne EB. 2009. Paternal Influence on Female Behavior: The Role of Peg3 in Exploration, Olfaction, and Neuroendocrine Regulation of Maternal Behavior of Female Mice. Behavioral Neuroscience 123: 469-480.

Paola Franco