This year’s stories highlight the expanding versatility of genetic techniques and the increasing utility of such research in all life science fields.

Parents’ mutations, even if they’re not inherited by offspring, could affect subsequent generations through changes to epigenetic marks, a study finds.

A study finds that XIST, the gene that shuts down one X chromosome in people who have two, is linked to cancer in males. 

Although epigenetic changes were long thought to largely act on the genome, rather than as part of it, research is now showing that these patterns can, directly or indirectly, change the genetic code.

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.

Epigenetic events, such as methylation, during early brain development in mice occur in genomic regions associated with BMI in humans, according to a new study.

A protein duo increases transcription of growth-related genes to enhance axon regeneration and boost plasticity, a study finds—but fails to improve mobility.

A CRISPR-based system that reverses epigenetic changes caused by adolescent binge drinking reduces adult addiction-like behaviors in rats, a study finds, suggesting that an epigenomic approach could someday help treat people with alcohol use disorder.

In vitro and mouse experiments show how cancer cells forced through tiny pores—mimicking the physical experience of metastasis—resisted programmed cell death and avoided detection by the immune cells that would normally kill them.

A study in mice finds that for certain genes, one parent’s allele can dominate expression and shape behavior—and which parent’s allele does so varies throughout the body.

Some studies suggest that associations between the health of children and the experiences of their parents or grandparents may be due to epigenetic mechanisms, but confounding factors challenge this interpretation.

The concept of epigenetic inheritance has long been controversial. Some researchers hope that new data on cross-generational effects of environmental exposures will help settle the debate.

New research finds that the appearance of the HbS mutation, which protects against malaria but leads to sickle cell disease when present in two copies, was more common in sperm samples from men in Ghana, where malaria risk is high, than Europeans.