Recent research has shown that stressed parents can pass on epigenetic changes to offspring that influence their risk of disease, but the process behind this transmission remained a mystery. Now, a study published last month (June 21) in Cell shows that when flies are under stress, a transcription factor releases its hold on tightly wound regions of DNA called heterochromatin, allowing them to unravel and be copied.
“The really interesting aspect to the study is that the effects on heterochromatin can be passed on to the kids,” said Oliver Rando, a geneticist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who was not involved in the research. The findings echo similar results in yeast, suggesting this molecular pathway for epigenetic inheritance is conserved across species including ...
