When is incomplete epigenetic resetting in germ cells favoured by natural selection?
(2015) In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282(1811).- Abstract
- Resetting of epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, in germ cells or early embryos is not always complete. Epigenetic states may therefore persist, decay or accumulate across generations. In spite of mounting empirical evidence for incomplete resetting, it is currently poorly understood whether it simply reflects stochastic noise or plays an adaptive role in phenotype determination. Here, we use a simple model to show that incomplete resetting can be adaptive in heterogeneous environments. Transmission of acquired epigenetic states prevents mismatched phenotypes when the environment changes infrequently relative to generation time and when maternal and environmental cues are unreliable. We discuss how these results may help to... (More)
- Resetting of epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, in germ cells or early embryos is not always complete. Epigenetic states may therefore persist, decay or accumulate across generations. In spite of mounting empirical evidence for incomplete resetting, it is currently poorly understood whether it simply reflects stochastic noise or plays an adaptive role in phenotype determination. Here, we use a simple model to show that incomplete resetting can be adaptive in heterogeneous environments. Transmission of acquired epigenetic states prevents mismatched phenotypes when the environment changes infrequently relative to generation time and when maternal and environmental cues are unreliable. We discuss how these results may help to interpret the emerging data on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in plants and animals. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7750882
- author
- Uller, Tobias LU ; English, Sinead and Pen, Ido
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- parental effects, epigenetic inheritance, epigenetic reprogramming, inheritance, transgenerational plasticity, adaptation
- in
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 282
- issue
- 1811
- article number
- 20150682
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:26136447
- wos:000358735700013
- scopus:84936889301
- pmid:26136447
- ISSN
- 1471-2954
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2015.0682
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d0c4d516-e5e4-4990-a0bc-85eb268c75de (old id 7750882)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:26:32
- date last changed
- 2022-04-21 21:41:49
@article{d0c4d516-e5e4-4990-a0bc-85eb268c75de,
abstract = {{Resetting of epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, in germ cells or early embryos is not always complete. Epigenetic states may therefore persist, decay or accumulate across generations. In spite of mounting empirical evidence for incomplete resetting, it is currently poorly understood whether it simply reflects stochastic noise or plays an adaptive role in phenotype determination. Here, we use a simple model to show that incomplete resetting can be adaptive in heterogeneous environments. Transmission of acquired epigenetic states prevents mismatched phenotypes when the environment changes infrequently relative to generation time and when maternal and environmental cues are unreliable. We discuss how these results may help to interpret the emerging data on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in plants and animals.}},
author = {{Uller, Tobias and English, Sinead and Pen, Ido}},
issn = {{1471-2954}},
keywords = {{parental effects; epigenetic inheritance; epigenetic reprogramming; inheritance; transgenerational plasticity; adaptation}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1811}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{When is incomplete epigenetic resetting in germ cells favoured by natural selection?}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0682}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2015.0682}},
volume = {{282}},
year = {{2015}},
}