We’ve been seeing increasing evidence of the influence of parents’ behavior or actions on their children’s DNA. Influences/actions such as a parent’s diet, exercise, or environment can be passed down to the next generations in the form of epigenetic marks. The DNA or the genes are not changed, but rather how they are expressed.

Socio-political implications-How do we view people who have been systematically oppressed and denied things such as access to access to healthy foods, healthy living areas, access to education, stress, etc.? We like to think that each generation is born with a clean slate, but it appears that this is unlikely.

Can epigenetic marks influence rates of mutations in affected genes? Make them more or less likely to have mutations over time? Will increasing evidence of heritable epigenetic marks resurrect Lamarckian evolution?

Originally written December 2015.

Featured Image: Epigentics, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)