Gametes can transmit not only genetic but also epigenetic information to the next generation. Such epigenetic inheritance can occur via several mechanisms, including DNA methylation, chromatin ...

Not everything inside us is, strictly speaking, us. The closer we look at the genome, the more we appreciate the role of small RNAs in what we call epigenetic inheritance. That's when traits get ...

A research team led by Professor Yuanliang ZHAI at the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong (HKU) collaborating with Professor Ning GAO and Professor Qing LI from Peking ...

From the color of our eyes to our odds of developing cancer, we’re all shaped by the genetic legacy of our ancestors. But a new study in mice provides the clearest evidence yet that acquired traits ...

The earliest studies of genetic inheritance were very straightforward - Gregor Mendel documented the passage of certain easily observable traits as they passed down through generations of pea plants.

Srinivasu Karri is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota. He investigates how cells accurately recycle parental histones during DNA replication to maintain critical chromatin states ...

New research in C. elegans from scientists at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) helps explain how changes in the parents’ lysosomes that promote longevity are transferred to their offspring.

Evidence is mounting that epigenetic marks on DNA can influence future generations in a variety of ways. But how such phenomena might affect large-scale evolutionary processes is hotly debated. The ...

A single exposure to a toxic fungicide during pregnancy can increase the risk of disease for 20 subsequent generations—with inherited health problems worsening many generations after exposure. Those ...

When we think about genetic inheritance, we usually leap to DNA, the four-letter code containing the instructions for building a living organism. Scientists know that DNA encodes everything from hair ...