Both mother and baby genes affect birth weight

Recent findings have discovered links between genetic code and birth weight of human beings, which explains how mothers' and babies' genes influences birth weight. 

Scientists have long known that babies who are particularly small at birth have a higher risk of birth complication, and also tend to be more prone than average weight babies to high blood pressure in adulthood.

As part of the study, the researchers looked at genetic information from 230,069 mothers, with the birth weight of one child each, in addition to genetic information and birth weights of 321,223 people across the UK Biobank and the Early Growth Genetics consortium cohorts.

A child inherits half their genes from their mother and a half from their father, and the child's own resulting genetic make-up plays a role in birth weight. The paper reveals the complex balance of how both the mothers' genes and the baby's genes can influence the baby's growth.

The researchers concluded that the direct effects of a baby's genes made a substantial contribution to birth weight. However, around 1/4 of the genetic effects identified were from the mother's genes that were not passed on to the child. Instead, these affected the baby's growth by influencing factors in the baby's environment during pregnancy, such as the amount of glucose available.

The study found that some parts of the genetic code can be linked to birth weight both directly from the child and indirectly from the mother. A number of these were seen to work together, with the mother and baby effects pushing birth weight in the same direction, while others had opposing effects, like a mother-baby tug of war.

For e.g., some of the genetic effects that raise the mother's glucose levels work to make the baby bigger because the baby produces more insulin in response which makes it grow. But when these same variations in the genetic code are inherited by the child, they restrict the amount of insulin the baby can produce, so limiting its growth and counter-acting some of the mother's growth-promoting effects.

This is the first time we've really been able to unpick the effects of both mother and baby's genes on baby weight, which is an important health indicator. It's particularly useful to know about the maternal genetic influences on the environment in the womb because these give us clues as to which factors are casual. Better understanding of the causes may mean we can help ensure babies are born at healthy weights, said one of the authors.

According to the researchers, this study highlights the value of large-scale international research collaborations.

The research involved more than 200 international researchers from 20 countries who are members of the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium.

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A father's stress can change his sperm

Children of stressed fathers are at greater risk of developing PTSD and depression, according to a new study.

Researchers found life's pressures can change the DNA of a man's sperm - leading to brain development changes in his yet unborn baby, a media reports.

It's widely known that a mother's environment during pregnancy, including factors such as poor diet, stress and infection, can negatively impact the offspring.

Learning how a father's behaviour and environment can impact his child's development could lead to the detection and prevention of many mental health disorders.

"Researchers have known for years that stress can increase the risk of mental disorders," a Professor of neuroscience told an online media. "What's interesting here is that we are finding inter-generational effects."

Researchers conducted a mice experiment to examine how a father's lifestyle impacts his children.

Previously, the team has found male mice experiencing chronic periods of mild stress passed down genetic coding for a less effective hormonal response to stress in children.

Three major hormones are released by the nervous system when the body is under stress. These are adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine. Collectively, these hormones send our bodies into 'fight or flight' mode, which is important to the body's ability to cope with the effects of stress.

Stress resulted in changes in sperms genetic material known as microRNA, which plays a key role in which genes become functional proteins.

These changes in stress reactivity have been linked to some mental disorders, including depression and PTSD.

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Protein that may 'shock and kill' HIV virus identified

Researchers have identified a protein that can potently force the latent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viruses out of hiding and poison them on their way out, leading to potential treatments for the deadly disease.
The findings showed that galectin-9 -- a human sugar-binding protein -- reactivates latent HIV viruses and renders these infected cells visible to the immune system, in a process called the "shock and kill" HIV eradication strategy.
Galectin-9 works by manipulating the sugars on the surface of HIV-infected cells to deliver the signals that force latent HIV out of hiding. 

 "Galectin-9 binds to certain classes of sugars on the surface of cells to start a chain reaction that forces HIV out of hiding," said lead author Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Scientist at Blood Systems Research Institute (BSRI) -- a US based research institute.
"This sugar coating may hold the key to new therapeutics that can be harnessed to cure HIV and possibly a range of other infectious diseases," added Abdel-Mohsen.

In addition, galectin-9 was also found to strongly increase the levels of an antiviral protein called "APOBEC3G" -- a lethal mutagen that destroys the genetic code of viruses including HIV, in infected cells.
This ensures that virus that comes out of hiding at the hands of galectin-9 will be sterilised on its way out of the cell, preventing any further infection, the researchers said. 

 The presence of potential, HIV-infected cells, which can reawaken and produce new virus when antiretroviral drug therapy is stopped, poses the ultimate impediment to a cure for HIV infection.


"For nearly two decades, antiretroviral therapy has demonstrated efficacy in suppressing HIV replication, but these drugs do not completely clear viral infection or fully restore health," noted Satish Pillai, Associate Professor at University of California, San Francisco in the US.

"Our findings suggests that future HIV treatments can eliminate all traces of the virus from the body," Pillai stated, in the work published in the journal PLoS Pathogens. 

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