ArticleBioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology2014
A paternal environmental legacy: evidence for epigenetic inheritance through the male germ line.
Article in BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 154 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
154 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- A systematic review on the role of paternal factors in human placental development, function, and pregnancy-related disorders.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Transgenerational epigenetic effects from male exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds: a systematic review on research in mammals.Clinical epigenetics · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Clinical markers of asthma and IgE assessed in parents before conception predict asthma and hayfever in the offspring.Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2017Trial
- 17α-Hydroxyprogesterone Mediates Mo-Induced Sperm-Mediated Transgenerational Inheritance of Impaired Spermatogenesis.Environmental health perspectives · 2026Article
- Dietary restriction induces persistent multigenerational phenotypic effects in Phytoseiulus persimilis.Pest management science · 2026Article
- Paternal Malnutrition has Organ-Specific Intergenerational Effects on Mitochondrial Function and Oxidative Stress Induced DNA Damage in Male Mouse Offspring.Molecular nutrition & food research · 2026Article
- The Correlation betweenInternational journal of fertility & sterility · 2026Article
- Parental smoke exposure before age 15 years and offspring asthma trajectories from ages 7 to 53 years.ERJ open research · 2026Article
- Effects of Cytotoxic Therapies on the Sperm Genome and Epigenome.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Nutrition-Based Paternal Influence on Gynecological Diseases in Female Offspring via Epigenetic Mechanisms.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Smoke signals in the genome: Epigenetic consequences of parental tobacco exposure (Review).Biomedical reports · 2025Review
- Article
- Father's occupation and colorectal cancer in his adult offspring.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2025Article
- Unmasking the Epigenome: Insights into Testicular Cell Dynamics and Reproductive Function.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- "Holy Cow, Where do I Sign up?" Attitudes of Military Veterans Toward Epigenomic Biomarker Toxic Exposure Testing.Military medicine · 2025Article
- Potential Epigenetic Impacts of Phytochemicals on Ruminant Health and Production: Connecting Lines of Evidence.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Father's adolescent body silhouette is associated with offspring asthma, lung function and BMI through DNA methylation.Communications biology · 2025Article
94 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Literature on maternal exposures and the risk of epigenetic changes or diseases in the offspring is growing. Paternal contributions are often not considered. However, some animal and epidemiologic studies on various contaminants, nutrition, and lifestyle-related conditions suggest a paternal influence on the offspring's future health. The phenotypic outcomes may have been attributed to DNA damage or mutations, but increasing evidence shows that the inheritance of environmentally induced functional changes of the genome, and related disorders, are (also) driven by epigenetic components. In this essay we suggest the existence of epigenetic windows of susceptibility to environmental insults during sperm development. Changes in DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs are viable mechanistic candidates for a non-genetic transfer of paternal environmental information, from maturing germ cell to zygote. Inclusion of paternal factors in future research will ultimately improve the understanding of transgenerational epigenetic plasticity and health-related effects in future generations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.