It is a situation that we often encounter in the family environment where our mothers sometimes feed us excessively and our fathers try to prevent it. Well, did you know that this feeding conflict between mother and father goes back to the genes, and it happened in the opposite direction when we were still fetuses? This is the case with a new study.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom were investigating why some babies grow poorly while in the womb, with new research on mice. While investigating this condition, which occurs in 10-15% of babies worldwide, a strange warfare that causes this condition was discovered.
The mother and father’s battle for feeding begins when the fetus is:
As a result of insufficient development of babies in the womb, there is usually a decrease in the dilation of blood vessels in the placenta. These blood vessels don’t normally go on the path of dilation between the middle and late stages of pregnancy. In their research, the scientists examined a signal produced by the fetus to stimulate the growth of blood vessels in the placenta in genetically modified mice.
This signal, called IGF2, caused changes in the cells of the placenta that would allow more nutrients to pass from the mother to the fetus. However, at this point, it was determined that the genes from the mother and father gave different responses to the IGF2 signal. The paternal genes were responding to the signal by dilating the blood vessels in the placenta to increase the nutrient supply. Meanwhile, maternal genes were trying to restrain this expansion.
In other words, paternal genes wanted to get as much resources from the mother as possible, while maternal genes took countermeasures to balance these demands. This nutritional war between genes is also extremely important for the health of the fetus. An excess of IGF2 resulting from paternal dominance is associated with overgrowth, while maternal dominance is associated with undergrowth. With the balance established in between, healthy babies are born.
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