transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, genetics & genomics

The Tel Aviv University researcher is interested in how the macromolecules affect the health and behavior of successive generations of worms.

Two research groups demonstrate that in Caenorhabditis elegans, behavioral traits can be passed down through the germline to future generations, even though they aren’t hard-wired.

Mouse fathers whose sperm lacks the gene Kdm6a pass down altered methylation patterns to male offspring, along with a better chance of developing tumors and dying.

A study suggests that the direct transfer of DNA methylation marks from one generation to the next is much less common than scientists previously thought.

Male rodents exposed to nicotine had changes in sperm genome methylation and produced pups and grandpups with abnormal behavior.

Two studies examining the effects of parents’ ages on their offsprings’ telomere lengths come to opposite conclusions.  

The variation may help explain why stocked salmon don’t fare as well in the ocean.

The memory of a temperature spike can persist for as many as 14 generations in C. elegans.

When kept at warmer temperatures for five generations, C. elegans showed evidence of “remembering” that experience for up to 14 generations.

Plants grown in dry soil produce offspring that are hardier in drought conditions, and DNA methylation appears responsible. 

Historic meeting on human gene editing; signs of obesity found in sperm epigenome; top 10 innovations of 2015; dealing with retractions

There’s more to inheritance than genes.

Meet some of the people featured in the December 2015 issue of The Scientist.

Among the first to discover epigenetic reprogramming during mammalian development, Wolf Reik has been studying the dynamics of the epigenome for 30 years.

Meet Wolf Reik, August Profilee and Babraham Institute director of research.

Scientists show how roundworm daughter cells remember the histone modification patterns of their parents.

The stressors a female rat experiences during pregnancy can have repercussions for her granddaughters, a study shows. 

Assessing mtDNA mutations among healthy people; heritability of intelligence; epigenetic inheritance of maternal malnutrition markers; consumers buy into DNA ancestry

Mice undernourished during pregnancy can transmit the effects of such nutritional stress to their sons’ germ cells, epigenetically.