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29th February 2016, 08:42 AM
Study Of Holocaust Survivors Finds Cellular Memory Of Trauma Passed On To Children’s Genes
Posted By: LilliHart
Date: Sunday, 28-Feb-2016 13:55:37
Genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors are capable of being passed on to their children, the clearest sign yet that one person’s life experience can affect subsequent generations.
The conclusion from a research team at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital led by Rachel Yehuda stems from the genetic study of 32 Jewish men and women who had either been interned in a Nazi concentration camp, witnessed or experienced torture or who had had to hide during the second world war.
They also analysed the genes of their children, who are known to have increased likelihood of stress disorders, and compared the results with Jewish families who were living outside of Europe during the war. “The gene changes in the children could only be attributed to Holocaust exposure in the parents,” said Yehuda.
Her team’s work is the clearest example in humans of the transmission of trauma to a child via what is called “epigenetic inheritance” – the idea that environmental influences such as smoking, diet and stress can affect the genes of your children and possibly even grandchildren.
The team’s work is the clearest sign yet that life experience can affect the genes of subsequent generations.
The idea is controversial, as scientific convention states that genes contained in DNA are the only way to transmit biological information between generations. MORE: http://www.jbbardot.com/study-of-holocaust-survivors-finds-cellular-memory-of-trauma-passed-on-to-childrens-genes/
Posted By: LilliHart
Date: Sunday, 28-Feb-2016 13:55:37
Genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors are capable of being passed on to their children, the clearest sign yet that one person’s life experience can affect subsequent generations.
The conclusion from a research team at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital led by Rachel Yehuda stems from the genetic study of 32 Jewish men and women who had either been interned in a Nazi concentration camp, witnessed or experienced torture or who had had to hide during the second world war.
They also analysed the genes of their children, who are known to have increased likelihood of stress disorders, and compared the results with Jewish families who were living outside of Europe during the war. “The gene changes in the children could only be attributed to Holocaust exposure in the parents,” said Yehuda.
Her team’s work is the clearest example in humans of the transmission of trauma to a child via what is called “epigenetic inheritance” – the idea that environmental influences such as smoking, diet and stress can affect the genes of your children and possibly even grandchildren.
The team’s work is the clearest sign yet that life experience can affect the genes of subsequent generations.
The idea is controversial, as scientific convention states that genes contained in DNA are the only way to transmit biological information between generations. MORE: http://www.jbbardot.com/study-of-holocaust-survivors-finds-cellular-memory-of-trauma-passed-on-to-childrens-genes/