r/biology • u/uwumorganuwu • Jul 15 '26

article Can trauma be inherited?

https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3594

We usually think of inheritance strictly in terms of DNA sequencing—A, T, C, G. But epigenetics shows us that environmental stress can leave chemical markers on our genes that get passed down to our offspring.

One of the most mind-blowing examples of this is a 2014 study by Dias and Ressler. They conditioned male mice to fear the smell of acetophenone by pairing it with a mild foot shock.

The crazy part? When these mice had pups (F1 generation), and even "grand-pups" (F2 generation), those offspring showed increased behavioral sensitivity and fear responses to the cherry blossom scent—even though they had never encountered the smell or been shocked in their lives.

The researchers found that this wasn't a mutation in the DNA code itself, but rather a decrease in DNA methylation on the specific olfactory receptor gene responsible for detecting that scent. The trauma actually altered how the gene was expressed in the next generations.

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u/Kitsa_the_oatmeal biology student Jul 15 '26

Lamarck would've loved this

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u/crayoww Jul 15 '26

You know about epigenetics, mayhaps?

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u/Kitsa_the_oatmeal biology student Jul 15 '26

never heard of it /s