Rando Oliver J
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2016 May 2;6(5):a022988. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a022988.
The inheritance of information beyond DNA sequence, known as epigenetic inheritance, has been implicated in a multitude of biological processes from control of plant flowering time to cancer in humans. In addition to epigenetic inheritance that occurs in dividing cells of a multicellular organism, it is also increasingly clear that at least some epigenetic information is transmitted via the gametes in a multitude of organisms, including mammals. Here, I review the evidence for epigenetic information carriers in mammalian sperm, and explore the emerging field of intergenerational transfer of environmental information.
DNA序列之外的信息遗传,即表观遗传,已被证实与从植物开花时间控制到人类癌症等众多生物过程相关。除了在多细胞生物分裂细胞中发生的表观遗传外,越来越明显的是,至少一些表观遗传信息在包括哺乳动物在内的众多生物体中通过配子进行传递。在此,我回顾了哺乳动物精子中表观遗传信息载体的证据,并探讨了环境信息代际传递这一新兴领域。