Epigenetics in wild guinea pigs

Male wild guinea pigs reply to increasing temperatures with biochemical modifications connected to their genome and pass this "epigenetic" info to the following generation, and possibly even the subsequent one.
In order to check their response to dynamic environmental conditions, male wild guinea pigs were kept for 2 months at an ambient temperature raised by 10 degrees. it absolutely was afterward examined whether or not any biochemical changes had occurred within the genome (DNA) of their liver in the results of that heat treatment son sired by the males before and once the increase in temperature was additionally examined for such potential biochemical changes of the genome of their liver and additionally within the genomes of their testicles. The joint scientists team from the Leibniz Institute for zoo and wildlife research (IZW), the Berlin Center for genomics in biodiversity research (BeGenDiv) and also the Californian company Zymo research detected vital variations within the methylation of the deoxyribonucleic acid (a biochemical modification of the genome) of the wild guinea pigs once comparing the genomes before and after exposure to raised temperatures.

These variations were particularly found in genes encryption proteins accountable for protection against heat damage. The magic word that describes this method is "epigenetics" (Greek: epi = upon, over, above; genetics = study of heredity) -- a molecular mechanism that regulates the switching-on of genes in response to environmental changes while not ever-changing the sequence of the DNA's building blocks.

The fast adjustment to environmental changes is, among different things, attainable through epigenetic modifications like the methylation or demethylation of the desoxyribonucleic acid. In contrast to the "genetic code" (the sequence of the DNA's building blocks), epigenetic modifications are versatile and may thus be used as a "switch" in response to environmental changes. The new findings show that a number of these nonheritable epigenetic modifications are strong enough to be passed onto offspring. The present study shows that fathers expire epigenetic changes in their desoxyribonucleic acid to their sons.

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