The inheritance of acquired epigenetic variations

Jablonka, Eva; Lamb, Marion J.

doi:10.1016/s0022-5193(89)80058-x

Cited by 233 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…This suggests that maternal effects are generally more important than paternal effects. However, paternal experience could compensate for the limited effect of maternal experience on male progeny, as the expression of genes or chromosomes can depend on the sex through which the chromosome is transmitted [41]. Correspondingly, maternal and paternal effects of Ophraella notulata beetles reared on different host plants were not independent of each other, but transgenerational acclimatization was not found in that species [15].…”

Section: (B) Paternal Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Transgenerational acclimatization in an herbivore–host plant relationship

Cahenzli

Erhardt

2013

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Twenty years ago, scientists began to recognize that parental effects are one of the most important influences on progeny phenotype. Consequently, it was postulated that herbivorous insects could produce progeny that are acclimatized to the host plant experienced by the parents to improve progeny fitness, because host plants vary greatly in quality and quantity, and can thus provide important cues about the resources encountered by the next generation. However, despite the possible profound implications for our understanding of host-use evolution of herbivores, host-race formation and sympatric speciation, intense research has been unable to verify transgenerational acclimatization in herbivore-host plant relationships. We reared Coenonympha pamphilus larvae in the parental generation (P) on high-and low-quality host plants, and reared the offspring (F 1 ) of both treatments again on high-and low-quality plants. We tested not only for maternal effects, as most previous studies, but also for paternal effects. Our results show that parents experiencing predictive cues on their host plant can indeed adjust progeny's phenotype to anticipated host plant quality. Maternal effects affected female and male offspring, whereas paternal effects affected only male progeny. We here verify, for the first time to our knowledge, the long postulated transgenerational acclimatization in an herbivore-host plant interaction.

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Section: (B) Paternal Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Transgenerational acclimatization in an herbivore–host plant relationship

Cahenzli

Erhardt

2013

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Information can be transmitted from one generation to the next in ways other than through the base sequence of DNA. It can be transmitted through cultural and behavioural means in higher animals, and by epigenetic means in cell lineages (Holliday, 1987;Jablonka and Lamb, 1989). All of these transmission systems allow the inheritance of environmentally-induced variation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Information is carried from one cell generation to the next because it rides with DNA. It is contained in what we have called chromatin marks (Jablonka and Lamb, 1989) which are binding proteins or additional chemical groups that are attached to DNA and influence its activity. When DNA is replicated, so are the chromatin marks.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetic inheritance in evolution

Jablonka

Lamb

1998

J of Evolutionary Biology

170

147

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We discuss the role of cell memory in heredity and evolution. We describe the properties of the epigenetic inheritance systems (EISs) that underlie cell memory and enable environmentally and developmentally induced cell phenotypes to be transmitted in cell lineages, and argue that transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is an important and neglected part of heredity. By looking at the part EISs have played in the evolution of multicellularity, ontogeny, chromosome organization, and the origin of some post-mating isolating mechanisms, we show how considering the role of epigenetic inheritance can sometimes shed light on major evolutionary processes.Most biologists, including ourselves, accept that the theory of evolution developed by Darwin is basically correct: adaptive changes occur through the selection of heritable differences between individuals. What is not generally accepted is Darwin's idea that some of the heritable differences on which selection acts are generated by environmental changes. After all, geneticists have shown how ample new variation can be provided by rare mutations and the shuffling of genes during sexual processes. The ultimate source of variation is the random changes in the sequences of DNA bases that constitute the genes. Since, according to orthodox views, genes pass from generation to generation unaffected by external factors, there is little room in modern evolutionary theory for the idea that the environment can induce heritable changes. Such 'Lamarckian' beliefs are wrong, it is argued, because we know that 'acquired characters' are not inherited. The role of the environment is in the selection, not the generation, of heritable variation. 159

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“…Could epigenetic inheritance be in some cases so stable that it creates essentially permanent changes in a species? Epigenetic inheritance is compatible with Darwinian evolution if epigenetic states that specify traits can remain stable in the germline through generations; in other words epigenetic states in the parents must predict states in succeeding generations ( Jablonka and Lamb, 1989;Haig, 2006;Slatkin, 2009;Richards, 2011). However, because its molecular basis is very unlike the basis of Mendelian inheritance, extremely stable epigenetic inheritance could be very difficult to identify.…”

Section: Can Epigenetic Inheritance Be So Stable As To Underlie Specimentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetic Inheritance: A Contributor to Species Differentiation?

Boffelli¹,

Martin²

2012

DNA and Cell Biology

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Multiple epigenetic states can be associated with the same genome, and transmitted through the germline for generations, to create the phenomenon of epigenetic inheritance. This form of inheritance is mediated by complex and highly diverse components of the chromosome that associate with DNA, control its transcription, and are inherited alongside it. But, how extensive, and how stable, is the information carried in the germline by the epigenome? Several known examples of epigenetic inheritance demonstrate that it has the ability to create selectable traits, and thus to mediate Darwinian evolution. Here we discuss the possibility that epigenetic inheritance is responsible for some stable characteristics of species, focusing on a recent comparison of the human and chimpanzee methylomes which reveals that somatic methylation states are related to methylation states in the germline. Interpretation of this finding highlights the potential significance of germline epigenetic states, as well as the challenge of investigating a form of inheritance with complex and unfamiliar rules.

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The inheritance of acquired epigenetic variations

Cited by 233 publications

References 61 publications

Transgenerational acclimatization in an herbivore–host plant relationship

Transgenerational acclimatization in an herbivore–host plant relationship

Epigenetic inheritance in evolution

Epigenetic Inheritance: A Contributor to Species Differentiation?

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