Epigenetic inheritance

Epigenetic inheritance is the transmission of information from a cell or multicellular organism to its descendants without that information being encoded in the nucleotide sequence of the gene. The study of epigenetic inheritance is known as epigenetics.

Related Topics:
Cell - Organism - Nucleotide - Gene - Epigenetics

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Epigenetic inheritance occurs in the development of multicellular organisms: dividing fibroblasts for instance give rise to new fibroblasts (rather than some other cell type) even though their genome is identical to that of all other cells. Epigenetic transmission of traits also occurs from one generation to the next in some organisms, though it is comparatively rare. It was first observed in maize.

Related Topics:
Fibroblasts - Maize

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