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Acquired Characteristics May Be Inheritable

Posted by kdawson on from the Lamarck's-revenge dept.

A story from a week or so back in Technology Review describes research coming to the surprising conclusion that Jean-Baptiste Lamarck may have been right — that acquired characteristics can be passed on to offspring, at least in rodents. Lamarck's ideas have been controversial for 200 years, and dismissed in mainstream scientific thinking for nearly that long. "In Feig's study, mice genetically engineered to have memory problems were raised in an enriched environment — given toys, exercise, and social interaction — for two weeks during adolescence. The animals' memory improved... The mice were then returned to normal conditions, where they grew up and had offspring. This next generation of mice also had better memory, despite having the genetic defect and never having been exposed to the enriched environment."

8 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting... by drosboro · · Score: 5, Informative

    Lamarck is one of those guys who's name is generally synonymous with bad science (he's about as villified as Darwin is deified). I'm actually a bit (pleasantly) surprised that someone would invest the time into this sort of study.

    That being said, the article is rather short in one important area: a suggested mechanism for this sort of inheritance. Without that, it's bound to be mired in controversy for some time.

    1. Re:Interesting... by MoellerPlesset2 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Lamarck is one of those guys who's name is generally synonymous with bad science (he's about as villified as Darwin is deified).

      What? I've heard Larmarck's evolutionary ideas ridiculed but villified?
      He wasn't that unscientific. He was just wrong.

      Or are you thinking of Lysenko? Now that particular advocate of inherited-acquired-characteristics was indeed a villain, a lousy scientist and a political tool.

    2. Re:Interesting... by drosboro · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, I've just taken a peek at the original article in J. Neuroscience, as posted in the comments below.

      The interesting thing is that this seems to be passed on at embryogenesis - so it's quite distinct from learning. It's also quite distinct from other epigenetic inheritance studies, which have demonstrated that some of mom's behaviour can result in changes in the offspring's tissues. If this is in fact happening at the embryo stage, it is a whole different pathway.

    3. Re:Interesting... by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, it does. The article says that the changes are still evident even when the pups are raised by control rats, NOT their mother.

      It also says the change is not permanent - it only lasts a few months. I didn't notice any mention of whether the mother rat still functions at a high level when she's pregnant. If she does, the change could be due to the environment in utero, which would be consistent with the effect fading over time.

    4. Re:Interesting... by Abreu · · Score: 4, Informative

      So does he work for the discovery institute?

      Close, he was employed by Joseph Stalin

      --
      No sig for the moment.
  2. Actual article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the actual article.

  3. Histone modifications by Rand310 · · Score: 5, Informative

    We're just learning that Histone/DNA modifications can be inherited.

    Histones (the spools around which DNA is stored) tell when the DNA source code should be 'active' vs 'inactive'. And these histones have a huge data space in the form of possible modifications (methylation, acetylation, etc.).

    When DNA is replicated, these histones too are replicated at the same time. And they seem to be replicated in a semiconserved manner similar to DNA (half go to 'old' strand, half go to 'new' strand). And that there is a whole series of touring-like proteins that can 'read' 'write' or 'erase' these modifications.

    If these modifications are made during an organism's life, they can be inherited by offspring.

    Not only is the code being copied, but the 'marks' that tell which/when/where to read the code at any given time/condition too can be passed down. And that these marks can be written in real time rather than waiting for mutations in the code itself.

    There was a recent study that XO females who inherited the X from their father had markedly different dispositions than those who inherited the X from their mother. DNA modification that is unique to how the male or female deal with their own X chromosome could be being passed down to offspring.

  4. Females aren't born with all their eggs by PIPBoy3000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    This was a common misconception until recently. You can read about it here.