Epigenetics back in the research spotlight!

Looks like the textbooks that say organisms can’t pass on traits that they acquire during their lifetime need updating again!!!
Another blow to random mutation methinks…

Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 27, Issue 6, 2012
Rethinking heredity, again – Russel Bonduriansky

Experiments on diverse animals, plants and unicellular organisms showed that parental environment, phenotype or genotype, sometimes affects offspring phenotype, a phenomenon called “parental effects” or “indirect genetic effects.” Recent discoveries in molecular and cell biology have revealed novel mechanisms, such as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, that could account for a variety of parental effects. Empirical studies are now providing evidence that parental effects can be mediated by a range of substances in the gametes, and also parental glandular and other somatic donations, behavior and environment, and can affect a range of offspring traits

Full research article…
http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347%2812%2900049-3