DRINKING too much while pregnant chemically alters the fetus鈥檚 DNA and changes gene activity, a study in mice suggests.
When a pregnant woman drinks excessively, fetal alcohol syndrome can do permanent damage to her child. Suyinn Chong at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Herston, Australia, wondered whether 鈥渆pigenetic鈥� chemical changes to DNA 鈥� changes not in the genetic code itself but in the activity of certain genes 鈥� might be to blame.
Chong鈥檚 team bred mice with genes for brown and yellow fur that are known to be modified by epigenetics. The offspring of mothers that drank alcohol were brown more often than you would expect from their DNA alone, indicating that alcohol had altered fetal gene activity (PLoS Genetics, ). These mice also weighed less and had smaller skulls.
Advertisement