RT Journal
A1 Daxinger, Lucia
A1 Whitelaw, Emma
T1 Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: More questions than answers
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2010 
FD December 01 
VO 20 
IS 12 
SP 1623 
OP 1628 
DO 10.1101/gr.106138.110 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/20/12/1623.abstract 
AB Epigenetic modifications are widely accepted as playing a critical role in the regulation of gene expression and thereby contributing to the determination of the phenotype of multicellular organisms. In general, these marks are cleared and re-established each generation, but there have been reports in a number of model organisms that at some loci in the genome this clearing is incomplete. This phenomenon is referred to as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Moreover, recent evidence shows that the environment can stably influence the establishment of the epigenome. Together, these findings suggest that an environmental event in one generation could affect the phenotype in subsequent generations, and these somewhat Lamarckian ideas are stimulating interest from a broad spectrum of biologists, from ecologists to health workers.