Traits Could Come From Mother’s Bacteria
It is suspected that bacteria can influence some our characteristics like weight and behavior. Traits that we thought were from our parent’s genes might actually be from bacteria. The DNA of the bacteria that our mothers passed on shortly after birth. This possibility was discovered in a new studied which figured out that female mice can pass to their offspring a possibility to certain gut disorders through the transmission of a particular group of gut-residing bacteria. The types of traits are immunity. The study, conducted by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been published in Nature.
Some bacteria don’t do us any harm and are beneficial to us. They help us produce hormones and vitamins. Our microbial populations change throughout our lives and our mothers pass them onto us. Scientists have pinpointed a certain trait that can be passed on by our mothers during birth. Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease. This is connected to low gut levels of a defense antibody called IgA.
