Evolutionary Perspectives on Transgenerational Epigenetics

Uller, Tobias

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-405944-3.00014-3

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…[27,49,57,131,[135][136][137]; how does inclusive inheritance affect the evolutionary process? [60][61][62][63]67,68,79,80,[138][139][140]; and how do macro-evolutionary patterns arise? [16,22,56,60,76,141].…”

Section: Novel Predictions Made and New Research Stimulated By The mentioning

confidence: 99%

The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions

et al. 2015

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Scientific activities take place within the structured sets of ideas and assumptions that define a field and its practices. The conceptual framework of evolutionary biology emerged with the Modern Synthesis in the early twentieth century and has since expanded into a highly successful research program to explore the processes of diversification and adaptation. Nonetheless, the ability of that framework satisfactorily to accommodate the rapid advances in developmental biology, genomics and ecology has been questioned. We review some of these arguments, focusing on literatures (evo-devo, developmental plasticity, inclusive inheritance and niche construction) whose implications for evolution can be interpreted in two ways-one that preserves the internal structure of contemporary evolutionary theory and one that points towards an alternative conceptual framework. The latter, which we label the 'extended evolutionary synthesis' (EES), retains the fundaments of evolutionary theory, but differs in its emphasis on the role of constructive processes in development and evolution, and reciprocal portrayals of causation. In the EES, developmental processes, operating through developmental bias, inclusive inheritance and niche construction, share responsibility for the direction and rate of evolution, the origin of character variation and organism-environment complementarity. We spell out the structure, core assumptions and novel predictions of the EES, and show how it can be deployed to stimulate and advance research in those fields that study or use evolutionary biology.

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Section: Novel Predictions Made and New Research Stimulated By The mentioning

confidence: 99%

The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions

et al. 2015

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“…[34][35][36], reviewed in [26]). Most models study how the extent of incomplete epigenetic resetting influences the spread and maintenance of genetic or epigenetic variation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Is incomplete epigenetic resetting an occasional phenomenon with neutral or negative effects on fitness, or can incomplete resetting be an adaptation [17,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]? The consequence of incomplete epigenetic resetting in germ cells is that environmental conditions encountered in one generation can have effects on the development of the next generation or even many generations later.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When is incomplete epigenetic resetting in germ cells favoured by natural selection?

2015

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Resetting of epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, in germ cells or early embryos is not always complete. Epigenetic states may therefore persist, decay or accumulate across generations. In spite of mounting empirical evidence for incomplete resetting, it is currently poorly understood whether it simply reflects stochastic noise or plays an adaptive role in phenotype determination. Here, we use a simple model to show that incomplete resetting can be adaptive in heterogeneous environments. Transmission of acquired epigenetic states prevents mismatched phenotypes when the environment changes infrequently relative to generation time and when maternal and environmental cues are unreliable. We discuss how these results may help to interpret the emerging data on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in plants and animals.

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“…The routes of epigenetic transmission include germline transmission, transmission from soma to germline and transmission from soma to soma. The study of non-genomic trait transmission from parents to progeny is known today as transgenerational epigenetics (Zhang et al 2013;Ho 2014;Uller 2014). One piece of evidence for transgenerational epigenetics in humans was the link between maternal weight and infant weight at birth that was observed in a British cohort of three generations (Hypponen et al 2004;Roseboom & Painter 2014).…”

Section: Transgenerational Inheritancementioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetics: from the past to the present

Villota-Salazar

Mendoza‐Mendoza

González-Prieto

2016

Frontiers in Life Science

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The definition of epigenetics is still under intense debate; however, its concept has evolved since it was originally introduced in 1939 by Conrad Hal Waddington as a way to reconcile antagonistic views between the school of preformationism and the school of epigenesis. The characterization of a large number of phenomena that diverge from the dogmas of classical genetics, and the discovery of the molecular mechanisms through which these phenomena occur, has given rise to a new area of study with important implications for biological sciences. Interactions between the environment and the DNA through modifications on the chromatin are not only responsible for the expression of a normal phenotype, these may be involved in the development of various pathologies. The epigenome, as the bridge between the genome and the phenotype, is no doubt one of the most interesting current ideas in genetics and is so revolutionary that it may change our present notions about inheritance and evolution. In this review, we made a compilation of the most important events in the history of epigenetics, its implications and some perspectives to the future.

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Evolutionary Perspectives on Transgenerational Epigenetics

Cited by 8 publications

References 77 publications

The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions

The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions

When is incomplete epigenetic resetting in germ cells favoured by natural selection?

Epigenetics: from the past to the present

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