Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California 94609, USA.
DNA Cell Biol. 2012 Oct;31 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S11-6. doi: 10.1089/dna.2012.1643. Epub 2012 Sep 11.
Multiple epigenetic states can be associated with the same genome, and transmitted through the germline for generations, to create the phenomenon of epigenetic inheritance. This form of inheritance is mediated by complex and highly diverse components of the chromosome that associate with DNA, control its transcription, and are inherited alongside it. But, how extensive, and how stable, is the information carried in the germline by the epigenome? Several known examples of epigenetic inheritance demonstrate that it has the ability to create selectable traits, and thus to mediate Darwinian evolution. Here we discuss the possibility that epigenetic inheritance is responsible for some stable characteristics of species, focusing on a recent comparison of the human and chimpanzee methylomes which reveals that somatic methylation states are related to methylation states in the germline. Interpretation of this finding highlights the potential significance of germline epigenetic states, as well as the challenge of investigating a form of inheritance with complex and unfamiliar rules.
多种表观遗传状态可与同一基因组相关联，并通过种系世代传递，从而产生表观遗传遗传现象。这种遗传形式是由与 DNA 结合、控制其转录并与其一起遗传的染色体的复杂和高度多样化的成分介导的。但是，表观基因组在种系中携带的信息有多少是广泛的，又是稳定的呢？几个已知的表观遗传遗传实例表明，它有能力创造可选择的特征，从而介导达尔文进化。在这里，我们讨论了表观遗传遗传可能是物种某些稳定特征的原因，重点是最近对人类和黑猩猩甲基组的比较，该比较表明体细胞甲基化状态与种系中的甲基化状态有关。对这一发现的解释突出了种系表观遗传状态的潜在意义，以及研究一种具有复杂和陌生规则的遗传形式的挑战。
