In the spirit of always questioning:
I'm not so sure about some of the interpretations regarding  
epigenetics on that I've seen on the list. At the moment, the  
mechanisms in epigentics are a moving target, and mostly based on  
cell culture experiments. In a nutshell, I think the "trans- 
generational" effects refer primarily to generations of cells, and  
not generations of organisms.  Single-cell bacteria and other simple  
organisms may pass on these epigenetics changes to their "offspring,"  
but I think it's highly speculative to say that significant changes  
can be passed from a complex multicellular organism like an insect or  
a mammal to offspring which are the result of sexual recombination of  
genetic material. It may be possible that in some cases, small RNAs  
fed to a C. elegans can migrate into the germ cells, but I'm not   
sure what that tells us... I've even heard of a study on engineered  
mice that suggests that an (engineered) epigenetic change may be  
heritable, but I'm still not so sure that it radically changes how we  
think of breeding bees...

Kurt

>
> In the paper you cited:
>
> The exact mechanism by which such trans-generational
> immune effects are achieved is as yet unknown.
> However, regardless of the mechanism employed,
> these effects will have implications beyond the
> mothers and offspring in which they occur.
>
> plb
>
> [always questioning?]


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