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Variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance

Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in mammals has been controversial due to inherent difficulties in its experimental demonstration. A recent report has, however, opened a new front in the ongoing debate by claiming that endocrine disrupting chemicals, contrary to previous findings, do not cau...

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Autor principal: Sharma, Abhay
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5804684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29492280
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvv005
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author Sharma, Abhay
author_facet Sharma, Abhay
author_sort Sharma, Abhay
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description Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in mammals has been controversial due to inherent difficulties in its experimental demonstration. A recent report has, however, opened a new front in the ongoing debate by claiming that endocrine disrupting chemicals, contrary to previous findings, do not cause effects across generations. This claim is based on the observation that gene expression changes induced by these chemicals in the exposed and unexposed generations are mainly in the opposite direction. This analysis shows that the pattern of gene expression reported in the two generations is not expected by chance and is suggestive of transmission across generations. A meta-analysis of diverse data sets related to endocrine disruptor-induced transgenerational gene expression alterations, including the data provided in the said report, further suggests that effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals persist in unexposed generations. Based on the prior evidence of phenotypic variability and gene expression alterations in opposite direction between generations, it is argued here that calling evidence of mismatched directionality in gene expression in experiments testing potential of environmental agents in inducing epigenetic inheritance of phenotypic traits as negative is untenable. This is expected to settle the newly raised doubts over epigenetic inheritance in mammals.
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spelling pubmed-58046842018-02-28 Variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance Sharma, Abhay Environ Epigenet Technical Brief Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in mammals has been controversial due to inherent difficulties in its experimental demonstration. A recent report has, however, opened a new front in the ongoing debate by claiming that endocrine disrupting chemicals, contrary to previous findings, do not cause effects across generations. This claim is based on the observation that gene expression changes induced by these chemicals in the exposed and unexposed generations are mainly in the opposite direction. This analysis shows that the pattern of gene expression reported in the two generations is not expected by chance and is suggestive of transmission across generations. A meta-analysis of diverse data sets related to endocrine disruptor-induced transgenerational gene expression alterations, including the data provided in the said report, further suggests that effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals persist in unexposed generations. Based on the prior evidence of phenotypic variability and gene expression alterations in opposite direction between generations, it is argued here that calling evidence of mismatched directionality in gene expression in experiments testing potential of environmental agents in inducing epigenetic inheritance of phenotypic traits as negative is untenable. This is expected to settle the newly raised doubts over epigenetic inheritance in mammals. Oxford University Press 2015-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5804684/ /pubmed/29492280 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvv005 Text en © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Technical Brief
Sharma, Abhay
Variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance
title Variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance
title_full Variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance
title_fullStr Variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance
title_full_unstemmed Variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance
title_short Variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance
title_sort variable directionality of gene expression changes across generations does not constitute negative evidence of epigenetic inheritance
topic Technical Brief
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5804684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29492280
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvv005
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