Epigenetic inheritance: how does it work?

本项目旨在确定获得性性状遗传的机制。有时环境不仅会影响暴露个体的表型，还会影响他们的子孙后代。虽然很明显这种情况会发生，但不清楚的是这种情况发生的机制和发生的频率。该项目将使用模式生物秀丽隐杆线虫、发现低丰度RNA分子的创新技术和荧光显微镜分析细胞核内的结构，以确定这种“跨代表观遗传”发生的分子机制。这将对进化论产生影响，对人类健康和疾病的认识以及气候变化对农业的影响也将产生长期影响。

This project aims to determine the mechanisms responsible for the inheritance of acquired traits. Sometimes the environment can have effects on the phenotype of not only the exposed individual, but also their children and grandchildren. While it is clear that this can occur, what is not clear is the mechanism by which this happens and the frequency at which it happens. This project will use the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, innovative new techniques for the discovery of low abundance RNA molecules, and fluorescence microscopy to analyse structures within the cell nucleus to determine what the molecular mechanism is by which this "transgenerational epigenetic inheritance" occurs. This will have an impact on evolutionary theory, as well as long-term consequences for the understanding of human health and disease, and the impact of a changing climate on agriculture.