Russia’s new Lysenkoism

Abstract

During the late 1940s and 1950s, a pseudo-scientific concept based on Marxist-Leninist ideology became internationally known as 'Lysenkoism'. Lysenkoism was a neo-Lamarckian idea, claiming that in crop plants, such as wheat, environmental influences are heritable via all cells of the organism. Lysenkoism was applied to agriculture during the Stalin era with disastrous consequences. Despite the triumphs of modern genetics, and the disproval of Lysenkoism, recent years have seen a 're-thinking' of this doctrine in Russia. This disturbing pro-Lysenko movement, which is accompanied by a growing sympathy for Stalin, claims to have its scientific roots in modern epigenetics, specifically the heritability of variation by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence. Based on recent research on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, its is clear that Lysenkoism has nothing to do with heritable 'epigenetic' modifications. Biologists should defend science against ideological and political interferences.

The social construction of the social epigenome and the larger biological context

“…Epigenetic inheritance in plants is usually associated with transposable elements, viruses, or transgenes and might be, as was suggested for mammals, a byproduct of germline defense strategies [ 49 ]. In recent years, a new political movement, which is accompanied by growing sympathy for Stalin, has invoked epigenetics to rehabilitate the flawed experiments on vernalization by agronomist Trofim Lysenko, a protege of Stalin [ 55 ]. Vernalization, the influence of temperature and season on the flowering time of plants, was discovered by the German botanist Gustav Gassner in 1918 and then widely applied by Lysenko, who claimed that the effects of vernalization were inherited [ 56 ].…”

“…Vernalization, the influence of temperature and season on the flowering time of plants, was discovered by the German botanist Gustav Gassner in 1918 and then widely applied by Lysenko, who claimed that the effects of vernalization were inherited [ 56 ]. The lack of scientific rigour in his work has been analyzed elsewhere, as have the devastating political and economic consequences of Lysenko’s practices (see, e.g., [ 55 , 57 ].…”

The social construction of the social epigenome and the larger biological context

“…Epigenetic inheritance in plants is usually associated with transposable elements, viruses, or transgenes and might be, as was suggested for mammals, a byproduct of germline defense strategies [49]. In recent years, a new political movement, which is accompanied by growing sympathy for Stalin, has invoked epigenetics to rehabilitate the awed experiments on vernalization by agronomist Tro m Lysenko, a protege of Stalin [55]. Vernalization, the in uence of temperature and season on the owering time of plants, was discovered by the German botanist Gustav Gassner in 1918 and then widely applied by Lysenko, who claimed that the effects of vernalization were inherited [56].…”

“…The lack of scienti c rigour in his work has been analyzed elsewhere, as have the devastating political and economic consequences of Lysenko's practices (see e.g. [55,57].…”

“Combating bourgeois pseudoscience”: a campaign for national priorities in science and technology and Soviet higher education institutions

“…In particular, this has been discussed by such recognized experts in the history of Russian science as E.I. Kolchinsky [38] and M.B. Konashev [39] in their recent studies.…”