Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Oct 16;109 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):17232-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1121083109. Epub 2012 Oct 8.
Paternal environmental experiences are significant predictors of developmental outcomes in offspring and can occur even in the absence of paternal care. Although there has been a recent focus on the role of environmentally induced changes in the male germline in producing these effects, the potential mediating role of mothers has not been investigated. A role for mothers in the transmission of paternal effects has been well acknowledged in behavioral ecology, which predicts that females will dynamically adjust their reproductive investment in response to the qualities of their mate. In the present study, we show that a lifetime of socially enriched compared with impoverished housing conditions shifts anxiety-like behavior and gene expression of male mice. Females that mate with enriched-reared males exhibit increased levels of pup nursing and licking toward their offspring, which are associated with changes in gene expression within the maternal hypothalamus. Significantly, these changes in maternal behavior are correlated with the general levels of anxiety exhibited by their male mates. Further, we show that paternal environmental enrichment results in increased growth of their offspring. These results suggest that maternal-paternal interactions at mating may guide offspring development, with significant implications for the transgenerational transmission of paternal environmental experiences.
父代环境经历是后代发育结果的重要预测因子，即使在没有父代照顾的情况下也会发生。尽管最近人们关注的是环境诱导的雄性生殖细胞变化在产生这些影响中的作用，但母亲的潜在中介作用尚未得到研究。行为生态学中已经充分认识到母亲在传递父代效应中的作用，该理论预测雌性会根据其伴侣的质量动态调整其生殖投资。在本研究中，我们表明，与贫困住房条件相比，一生的社会丰富化会改变雄性小鼠的焦虑样行为和基因表达。与经过丰富养育的雄性交配的雌性会增加对其后代的护理和舔舐行为，这与母系下丘脑内基因表达的变化有关。重要的是，母性行为的这些变化与雄性伴侣表现出的普遍焦虑水平相关。此外，我们还表明，父代环境丰富会导致其后代的生长增加。这些结果表明，交配时的母-父相互作用可能会指导后代的发育，这对父代环境经历的跨代传递具有重要意义。
