All Images
News Release 12-079
Study Is First to Show Transgenerational Effect of Antibiotics
Antibiotic commonly used in animal production passes from father to son in pseudoscorpions
This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.
In an article published in Nature's open access journal Scientific Reports, lead author and assistant biology professor Jeanne Zeh surmises that tetracycline may induce epigenetic changes in male reproductive tissues that may be passed to sons--changes that do not alter the sequence of DNA but rather alter the way genes are expressed. Here, a Cordylochernes scorpioides births nymphs, the males of which may be negatively affected by tetracycline.
Credit: Nick Romanenko
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (778 KB)
Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.