-
Asked by 843parf45 to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 20 Jun 2016.
-
Claire Bourke answered on 20 Jun 2016:
@843,
that’s an interesting question and, whilst I don’t think that there is any evidence that we can remember something that happened to our parents without them telling us about it, we can inherit some of their experiences through a process called epigenetic modification. Let me explain this a bit further…on the one hand we have a genetic code made up of DNA molecules, but we also have a range of molecules that bind to DNA and affect which genes encoded in our DNA are expressed, when and how much, but that aren’t part of the genetic code itself; the study of these molecules and how they affect genes is called epigenetics. The really interesting thing about epigenetic molecules is that they can be changed by changes in the environment and that can affect patterns of gene expression in good and bad ways; e.g. someone who does not eat enough has a different pattern of epigenetic molecules than someone who does, which could mean that they have less healthy gene expression patterns too. Even more interesting is that these changes can be inherited by children from their parents, like having an ‘epigenetic memory’ of the environment that a parent was exposed to.The study of epigenetics is a new and exciting field of research as now we are starting to understand how the environment can affect gene expression without altering the genetic code. In malnutrition, which I study, epigenetic modifications resulting from poor diet could be one explanation for why the children of malnourished parents become unwell even when they have been fed a healthy diet all of their lives…perhaps it is the epigenetic memory of their parents’ poor diet that is causing their illness?
-
-
Franco Falcone answered on 20 Jun 2016:
@843parf45 Claire answered this very competently regarding epigenetics – genetic memories, or better, epigenetic memories. If that was your question, I agree with what Claire wrote. If your question is regarding what we normally call memory (a recollection of past events in your mind) I don’t know. But there seems to be an inherent fear of snakes, spiders etc. in some animals. If that is true, how does that work?
-
Mark Booth answered on 20 Jun 2016:
Hi
Claire is right about epi-genetics but that is not the same as inheriting memories that you can recall in your ‘minds eye’ I would suggest that is very unlikely as only the memories that you created before you have children would be transmitted.
As to Franco’s suggestion – evolution of behaviours is essential for species survival. Recognising shapes and smells at birth is well established in animals that have to get up an move around to avoid predators. An animal that is primed to react to a certain chemical signature or sound that will protect it from birth has an advantage. That can work through evolutionary processes
-
Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 20 Jun 2016:
Hi 843parf45,
If we talk about the memories for recalling what happen at a particular event, I don’t think that can be inherited, but the “effect” of such event might be inherited. In a particular event, our body might respond to it, and these responses might be passed on to offspring.
There is a study on tiny little worms called C. elegans (these are not parasites and they are used a lot in biology because they are easy to keep and grow fast). When they starve the worms, they find that the worm produce more RNA of a certain type (so-called “small RNA”)…then they let the worms produce offsprings and they fed the offspring as normal. (so the parents were starved, but their offsprings were not). It turned out that the offspring still produce those “small RNA” which were the effect of being starved even when they themselves were not starve. This would be another example of the epigenetic memory that Claire had explained 🙂
Comments