Epigenetic changes alter the way genes are expressed throughout an organism’s life. These tweaks are then wiped from the genomes of reproductive cells, giving offspring a clean start—or so it seemed. Now, new evidence has emerged that epigenetic changes can be transmitted across multiple generations, despite the wipe. In a study published February 7 in Cell, a group of scientists tracked an engineered epigenetic mutation across four generations of lab-bred mice, finding evidence of the alteration in each of the subsequent generations. These alterations seemingly resurfaced even after the epigenetic wipe. The authors claim it is the first experimental evidence for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance using methylation-edited mice.
“It’s kind of a dream experiment,” says Patrick Allard, an environmental epigeneticist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the research. “And the results are both fascinating and confusing.” – Katherine Irving, Feb 17, 2023
We thought this was an old story, actually. But epigenetics keeps being rediscovered, probably because it raises a problem for evolution theory: How do we know changes are due to Darwinian natural selection, as opposed to epigenetics.
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You may also wish to read: Epigenetic change: Lamarck, wake up, you’re wanted in the conference room!