Washington: Scientists have shown, for the first time, that children can resemble the mother’s previous sexual partner – at least in flies. The researchers propose that the effect is due to molecules in the seminal fluid of the first mate being absorbed by the female’s immature eggs and then influencing the growth of offspring of a subsequent mate.
This confronting idea, known as telegony, dates back to ancient Greek times, but was discredited in the early 20th Century with the advent of genetics. To test it out, University of New South Wales (UNSW)Australia scientists manipulated the size of male flies and studied their offspring.
They found that the size of the young was determined by the size of the first male the mother mated with, rather than the second male that sired the offspring.
The team produced large and small male flies by feeding them diets as larvae that were high or low in nutrients. They then mated the immature females with either a large or a small male. Once the females had matured, they were mated again with either a big or a small male, and their offspring were studied.
We know that features that run in families are not just influenced by the genes that are passed down from parents to their children. Various non-genetic inheritance mechanisms make it possible for maternal or paternal environmental factors to influence characteristics of a child,” said Crean.
The idea of telegony – that a male can leave a mark on his mate’s body that influences her offspring to a different male – originated with the Greek philosopher Aristotle. It was a concern to royalty in the 1300s and still popular as a scientific hypothesis in the 1800s but rejected in the early 1900s as incompatible with the new science of genetics, researchers said. The study was published in the journal Ecology Letters.
Bureau Report
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