In the world of mice, male attractiveness does not rely on the amount of cheddar owned or the ability to quote Shakespeare on cue. It all comes down to pheromones in urine, and a recent study suggests that sons of promiscuous mice moms make more urinary pheromones, smelling "sexier" to potential mates.
Researchers say that though this is an advantage reproduction-wise, it may not be a desirable feature; the sexy smelling males have shorter lives.
A team from the University of Utah, led by senior author Prof. Wayne Potts, published the results of their study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Potts explains how the study sheds light on epigenetics - how the parents' environment, not changes in the DNA, modifies the genes of offspring:
"Only recently have we started to understand that environmental conditions experienced by parents can influence the characteristics of their offspring. This study is one of the first to show this kind of 'epigenetic' process working in a way that increases the mating success of sons."
For their study, the team used domesticated mice who were descended from wild mice but raised for 10 generations in cages with assigned mates.
There were 23 male-female pairs who were kept as nonsocial, monogamous mice in the cages. However, 20 males and 40 females were assigned to social, promiscuous conditions, where they were placed in mouse barns and competed for territories and mates.
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