Understanding 'non-genetic' inheritance: insights from molecular-evolutionary crosstalk

Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser; Sonia E. Sultan; Lisa N.S. Shama; Helen Clare Spence-Jones; Stefano Tiso; Claudia Isabelle Keller Valsecchi; Franz J. Weissing

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2020.08.011

Understanding 'non-genetic' inheritance: insights from molecular-evolutionary crosstalk

Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser, Sonia E. Sultan, Lisa N.S. Shama, Helen Clare Spence-Jones, Stefano Tiso, Claudia Isabelle Keller Valsecchi, Franz J. Weissing

School of Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Understanding the evolutionary and ecological roles of 'non-genetic' inheritance
(NGI) is daunting due to the complexity and diversity of epigenetic mechanisms.
We draw on insights from molecular and evolutionary biology perspectives to
identify three general features of 'non-genetic' inheritance systems: (i) they are
functionally interdependent with, rather than separate from, DNA sequence; (ii)
precise mechanisms vary phylogenetically and operationally; and (iii) epigenetic
elements are probabilistic, interactive regulatory factors and not deterministic
'epialleles' with defined genomic locations and effects. We discuss each of
these features and offer recommendations for future empirical and theoretical
research that implements a unifying inherited gene regulation (IGR) approach
to studies of 'non-genetic' inheritance.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1078-1089
Number of pages	12
Journal	Trends in Ecology & Evolution
Volume	35
Issue number	12
Early online date	6 Oct 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.08.011
Publication status	Published - Dec 2020

Keywords

Epigenetics
Extended inheritance
Epiallelic variation
Theoretical models
Transgenerational effects
Inherited gene regulation

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10.1016/j.tree.2020.08.011Licence: CC BY

Adrian-Kalchhauser_2020_TEE_Non-genetic_CC
Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Cite this

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title = "Understanding 'non-genetic' inheritance: insights from molecular-evolutionary crosstalk",

abstract = "Understanding the evolutionary and ecological roles of 'non-genetic' inheritance(NGI) is daunting due to the complexity and diversity of epigenetic mechanisms.We draw on insights from molecular and evolutionary biology perspectives toidentify three general features of 'non-genetic' inheritance systems: (i) they arefunctionally interdependent with, rather than separate from, DNA sequence; (ii)precise mechanisms vary phylogenetically and operationally; and (iii) epigeneticelements are probabilistic, interactive regulatory factors and not deterministic'epialleles' with defined genomic locations and effects. We discuss each ofthese features and offer recommendations for future empirical and theoreticalresearch that implements a unifying inherited gene regulation (IGR) approachto studies of 'non-genetic' inheritance.",

keywords = "Epigenetics, Extended inheritance, Epiallelic variation, Theoretical models, Transgenerational effects, Inherited gene regulation",

author = "Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser and Sultan, {Sonia E.} and Shama, {Lisa N.S.} and Spence-Jones, {Helen Clare} and Stefano Tiso and {Keller Valsecchi}, {Claudia Isabelle} and Weissing, {Franz J.}",

note = "The idea for this paper was initially proposed by I.A.-K. and was further developed by all authors in a workshop generously funded by grant No 789240 from the European Research Council (ERC) to F.J.W. S.E.S. acknowledges support from Wesleyan University and The John Templeton Foundation.",

year = "2020",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1016/j.tree.2020.08.011",

language = "English",

volume = "35",

pages = "1078--1089",

journal = "Trends in Ecology & Evolution",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Understanding 'non-genetic' inheritance

T2 - insights from molecular-evolutionary crosstalk

AU - Adrian-Kalchhauser, Irene

AU - Sultan, Sonia E.

AU - Shama, Lisa N.S.

AU - Spence-Jones, Helen Clare

AU - Tiso, Stefano

AU - Keller Valsecchi, Claudia Isabelle

AU - Weissing, Franz J.

N1 - The idea for this paper was initially proposed by I.A.-K. and was further developed by all authors in a workshop generously funded by grant No 789240 from the European Research Council (ERC) to F.J.W. S.E.S. acknowledges support from Wesleyan University and The John Templeton Foundation.

PY - 2020/12

Y1 - 2020/12

N2 - Understanding the evolutionary and ecological roles of 'non-genetic' inheritance(NGI) is daunting due to the complexity and diversity of epigenetic mechanisms.We draw on insights from molecular and evolutionary biology perspectives toidentify three general features of 'non-genetic' inheritance systems: (i) they arefunctionally interdependent with, rather than separate from, DNA sequence; (ii)precise mechanisms vary phylogenetically and operationally; and (iii) epigeneticelements are probabilistic, interactive regulatory factors and not deterministic'epialleles' with defined genomic locations and effects. We discuss each ofthese features and offer recommendations for future empirical and theoreticalresearch that implements a unifying inherited gene regulation (IGR) approachto studies of 'non-genetic' inheritance.

AB - Understanding the evolutionary and ecological roles of 'non-genetic' inheritance(NGI) is daunting due to the complexity and diversity of epigenetic mechanisms.We draw on insights from molecular and evolutionary biology perspectives toidentify three general features of 'non-genetic' inheritance systems: (i) they arefunctionally interdependent with, rather than separate from, DNA sequence; (ii)precise mechanisms vary phylogenetically and operationally; and (iii) epigeneticelements are probabilistic, interactive regulatory factors and not deterministic'epialleles' with defined genomic locations and effects. We discuss each ofthese features and offer recommendations for future empirical and theoreticalresearch that implements a unifying inherited gene regulation (IGR) approachto studies of 'non-genetic' inheritance.

KW - Epigenetics

KW - Extended inheritance

KW - Epiallelic variation

KW - Theoretical models

KW - Transgenerational effects

KW - Inherited gene regulation

U2 - 10.1016/j.tree.2020.08.011

DO - 10.1016/j.tree.2020.08.011

M3 - Review article

SN - 0169-5347

VL - 35

SP - 1078

EP - 1089

JO - Trends in Ecology & Evolution

JF - Trends in Ecology & Evolution

IS - 12

ER -

Understanding 'non-genetic' inheritance: insights from molecular-evolutionary crosstalk

Abstract

Keywords

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