Multigenerational epigenetic inheritance: Transmitting information across generations.

Autor: Burton NO; Centre for Trophoblast Research, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EG, UK; Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK; Center for Epigenetics, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA. Electronic address: nick.burton@vai.org., Greer EL; Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School Initiative for RNA Medicine, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: eric.greer@childrens.harvard.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Seminars in cell & developmental biology [Semin Cell Dev Biol] 2022 Jul; Vol. 127, pp. 121-132. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Aug 21.
DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2021.08.006
Abstrakt: Inherited epigenetic information has been observed to regulate a variety of complex organismal phenotypes across diverse taxa of life. This continually expanding body of literature suggests that epigenetic inheritance plays a significant, and potentially fundamental, role in inheritance. Despite the important role these types of effects play in biology, the molecular mediators of this non-genetic transmission of information are just now beginning to be deciphered. Here we provide an intellectual framework for interpreting these findings and how they can interact with each other. We also define the different types of mechanisms that have been found to mediate epigenetic inheritance and to regulate whether epigenetic information persists for one or many generations. The field of epigenetic inheritance is entering an exciting phase, in which we are beginning to understand the mechanisms by which non-genetic information is transmitted to, and deciphered by, subsequent generations to maintain essential environmental information without permanently altering the genetic code. A more complete understanding of how and when epigenetic inheritance occurs will advance our understanding of numerous different aspects of biology ranging from how organisms cope with changing environments to human pathologies influenced by a parent's environment.
(Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE