MOSCOW, September 21 (RIA Novosti) - A new study published by the University of California (UC) Santa Cruz Friday, shows that through the epigenetics process, repressed genes, that could be carrying information on environmental stresses, can be passed on to offspring in modifications that do not affect the DNA but change how the DNA is packaged.
"There has been ongoing debate about whether the methylation mark [repressed gene] can be passed on through cell divisions and across generations, and we've now shown that it is," Susan Strome, one of the authors of the study and a professor at UC Santa Cruz was quoted saying by the University.
The study titled "H3K27me and PRC2 Transmit a Memory of Repression across Generations and During Development" aimed towards proving that memory of environmental stresses can cause genetic changes potentially inherited by offspring, tested the theory through experiments on worms.
Worms mutated in the lab to create the repressed gene were bred with normal worms to test whether or not the gene would be passed on to the worm's offspring. The result was a pattern of inherited repressed genes being transmitted through multiple cell divisions.
Although all animals use the same enzyme to create the same repressed gene, the puzzle is still being solved as there are numerous other potential epigenetic markers other than the one experimented with the mutated worms.
"In studies that document parent-to-child epigenetic inheritance, it's not clear what's being passed on, and understanding it molecularly is very complicated," concluded Professor Strome. "We have a specific example of epigenetic memory that is passed on, and we can see it in the microscope. It's one piece of the puzzle."
Epigenetics is quickly gaining popularity. A team from Emory University in Atlanta last year claimed that mice inherited smell memories from their parents, causing scientists to further dig into the theory of memory transmission via epigenetics. But as Susan Strome said, epigenetics still has a long way to go.
