State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Development. 2019 Mar 15;146(6):dev170902. doi: 10.1242/dev.170902.
A hereditary system that is based on double-helix DNA sequences provides a stable way to store inherited traits and is favored by most life forms on Earth. However, emerging studies on the phenomenon of non-DNA sequence-based inheritance in multiple species, including mammals, urges a rethinking of the nature of hereditary information carriers and the ways in which they encode heritable traits. In this short opinion piece, we discuss how potential hereditary information carriers such as DNA-associated proteins, epigenetic marks, RNAs and organelles could function via distinct and synergistic modes of action in encoding and transmitting ancestral traits, either inherited or acquired from the environment. In particular, we discuss how the 3D structure of chromatin, in addition to its DNA sequence, may represent a higher-order carrier of hereditary information.
一种基于双螺旋 DNA 序列的遗传系统为存储遗传特征提供了一种稳定的方式，这在地球上的大多数生命形式中都受到青睐。然而，越来越多的关于包括哺乳动物在内的多种物种中非 DNA 序列遗传现象的研究，促使人们重新思考遗传信息载体的本质以及它们编码遗传特征的方式。在这篇简短的观点文章中，我们讨论了潜在的遗传信息载体，如与 DNA 相关的蛋白质、表观遗传标记、RNA 和细胞器，它们如何通过不同的协同作用方式在编码和传递祖先特征中发挥作用，这些特征可以是遗传的，也可以是从环境中获得的。特别是，我们讨论了染色质的 3D 结构，除了其 DNA 序列外，如何可能代表遗传信息的更高阶载体。
