Working with a virus that infects bacteria, the Stanford University biochemist and developmental biologist helped to develop a way to stitch DNA together, a discovery that gave rise to genetic engineering.
Evidence is mounting that epigenetic marks on DNA can influence future generations in a variety of ways. But how such phenomena might affect large-scale evolutionary processes is hotly debated.
Parents’ mutations, even if they’re not inherited by offspring, could affect subsequent generations through changes to epigenetic marks, a study finds.