Epigenetic Development

Neuroscientists at Emory University found that genetic markers, thought to be wiped clean before birth, were used to transmit a single traumatic experience across generations, leaving behind traces in the behavior and anatomy of future pups. Studies that show how molecules act as DNA markers that influence how the genome is read are known as epigenetic. We pick up these markers during our lives and in various locations on our body as we develop and interact with our environment.

Through a process, these epigenetic markers were thought to be erased in the earliest stages of development in mammals. Research has shown that some of these markers may survive to the next generation. University of Pennsylvania neuroscientist Christopher Pierce, whom wasn’t involved in the study but previously discovered an epigenetic inheritance related to cocaine. Male rats whose fathers were exposed to cocaine ingested less of the drug than those rats whose fathers who weren’t exposed to cocaine.

He believes this is an adaptive effect — because cocaine is a toxin, the fathers
Proteins called histones act like spools for the 2 meters of DNA, about 6.5 feet, that are crammed into every nucleus in our bodies. Dias combined his interest in animal development with neurobiologist Kerry Ressler’s focus on the mechanisms of fear learning. After three days of fear conditioning, the cherry blossom mice later reproduced. The offspring, having grown to adulthood, had a heightened jumpiness to the smell of cherry blossom, despite never having been exposed to it. They had no reaction to alcohol. The findings were verified by comparing the epigenetic markers on the DNA of sperm, specifically the gene responsible for detecting cherry blossoms. The sperm of the cherry-blossom-fearing mice, contained less of the methylation that can silence genes, possibly pointing to a mechanism of how the information got passed