Hunting for Darwin's gemmules and Lamarck's fluid: transgenerational signaling and histone methylation

Youngeun Choi; Susan E Mango

doi:10.1016/j.bbagrm.2014.05.011

Hunting for Darwin's gemmules and Lamarck's fluid: transgenerational signaling and histone methylation

Biochim Biophys Acta. 2014 Dec;1839(12):1440-53. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2014.05.011. Epub 2014 May 21.

Authors

Youngeun Choi¹, Susan E Mango²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: yechoi@fas.harvard.edu.
² Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: smango@mcb.harvard.edu.

PMID: 24859459
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2014.05.011

Abstract

Recent studies have discovered phenotypes induced by a transient treatment or mutation that persist for multiple generations without mutations in DNA. Both invertebrates and vertebrates exhibit such inheritance, and a range of environmental factors can act as a trigger. Now referred to as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance or TEI, this emerging field faces a big challenge-what molecular mechanisms account for inheritance of TEI phenotypes? This review describes examples of TEI and focuses on the possible role of histone methylation and small RNAs in mediating TEI.

Keywords: Cellular memory; Histone methylation; Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
DNA Methylation
Epigenesis, Genetic / physiology*
Gene-Environment Interaction*
Genetic Fitness
Histone Methyltransferases
Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / metabolism*
Histones / metabolism*
Humans
Inheritance Patterns* / genetics
Signal Transduction / genetics

Substances

Histones
Histone Methyltransferases
Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding