Evidence suggests that what happens in one generation (diet, exposure to toxins, trauma, fear) can have lasting effects on future generations. Scientists believe that these effects are due to epigenetic changes that occur in response to the environment, turning genes on or off without altering the genome or DNA sequence.
However, because scientists did not have an easy way to study this phenomenon, it is not understood how these changes will be passed on from generation to generation. New research by researchers at the University of Maryland provides a potential tool for unraveling the mystery of how experience can cause inheritable changes in animal biology. Mating nematodes has produced lasting epigenetic changes that last for more than 300 generations.The study was published in the journal on July 9, 2021. Nature Communications..
“There is a lot of interest in hereditary epigenetics,” said Antony Jose, an associate professor of cell biology and molecular genetics at UMD and a senior author of the study. “But it’s hard to get a definite answer. For example, how does it affect my children, grandchildren, etc. when eating today? Because so many different variables are involved. No one knows. But I found this. In a very easy way by mating, Single gene For multiple generations. And it gives us a great opportunity to study how these stable epigenetic changes occur. “
In a new study, Jose and his team found that while breeding nematodes, some matings caused epigenetic changes in offspring, as many generations as scientists continued to breed them. I discovered that it continues to be inherited by. This discovery allows scientists to explore how epigenetic changes are passed on to future generations and what features make genes susceptible to permanent epigenetic changes. I can do it.
Jose and his team started this work in 2013. Nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), a species often used as a model for understanding animal biology. Scientists have noticed that worms breed with a gene called T and produce fluorescent proteins. This was puzzling because the glower and non-grower had almost the same DNA.
“Everything started when we came across a rare gene that had undergone permanent changes for hundreds of generations just by mating. We could have easily missed it,” Sindhuja said. Devanapally (Ph.D. ’18, Biological science), Co-lead author of the study, currently a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.
To better understand this phenomenon, researchers conducted reproductive experiments in which only the mother or father had the fluorescent gene. The team expected the offspring to shine no matter which parent had the gene. Instead, they found that when the mother had the fluorescent gene, the offspring were always shining, that is, the gene was always on. However, when the father had the gene, the offspring usually glowed weakly or not at all.
“We found that there are these RNA-based signals that regulate gene expression,” Jose said. “Some of these signals silence the gene, and some of them are protective signals that prevent silence. These signals trick it as the offspring grow. When the gene comes from the mother, the protective signal Always win, but when the gene comes from, Father, most of the time, the signal of silence wins. “
If the silencing signal wins, the gene is silenced permanently or for at least 300 generations. This is the time when Jose and his colleagues tracked the worms kept in the laboratory. Previous examples of epigenetic changes were more complex or did not last for more than a few generations. Researchers still don’t know why silencing signals win only occasionally, but this new discovery puts us in a much better position to explore the details of epigenetic inheritance than ever before.
“We have discovered a set of genes that can be silenced almost permanently, but most other genes are similarly unaffected,” said Prabrusa Raman (Ph.D.), another co-author of the study. ’19, Biological Sciences) said. Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “After silence, they bounce, Future generation.. “
With their new discoveries, researchers now believe that while other genes recover within a few generations, some genes may be more vulnerable to persistent epigenetic changes. I am. Worm research is not the same as human research, but it provides a window to biological processes that are likely to be shared by all animals, at least in part.
“The two major benefits we now have from this study are that this long-term epigenetic change is easily induced by mating and that it occurs at the level of a single gene,” Jose said. Said. “Now you can manipulate this gene and control everything about it, which allows you to identify the traits that make it sensitive or resistant to hereditary epigenetic changes.”
Jose and his colleagues hope that future research may one day help scientists identify humans. gene Susceptible to long term Epigenetic change..
2021 July 9, 2014 Journal Nature Communications..
“Mating can initiate stable RNA silencing to overcome epigenetic recovery.” Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-021-24053-4
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University of Maryland
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