Environmental change leaves its footprint in the epigenome
(Phys.org) —Monozygotic twins look more similar when they are young than later in life. One of the reasons for this is epigenetic change in the form of chemical modifications of the DNA or its packaging proteins. Environmental factors can influence these modifications over a lifetime. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön have now for the first time investigated one such epigenetic mark in wild mice and found that it changes in response to a switch to an energy-rich diet and longer daylight hours. This activates genes in the liver involved in metabolizing the energy-rich diet. However, these adaptations to mild environmental variation are not passed on to the next generation. Similar environmental change may also influence epigenetic marks in humans.