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Polycystic ovary syndrome—a hormonal disorder that can manifest as irregular menstrual cycles, increased testosterone levels, or enlarged ovaries with numerous cysts—is a leading cause of infertility in women, affecting up to one in five of childbearing age. Yet the underlying mechanisms and causes of PCOS remain poorly understood.
PCOS often runs in families. Up to 70 percent of daughters of women with PCOS also develop it, but genetic variation doesn’t fully explain the high incidence within families—some genome-wide association studies of PCOS susceptibility reckon genetics explains less than 10 percent of the condition’s heritability. That has scientists suspecting that other factors, such as epigenetic mechanisms, might play a role in passing the condition on to future generations.
A study published in Cell Metabolism suggests that mice can pass down PCOS-like symptoms for at least three generations. This is likely transmitted as epigenetic modifications, which—like a set ...
