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Updated: Oct 12, 2025

Author Spotlight: RNAi Inheritance and ChIP in C. elegans
Published on: May 5, 2023
Transmission of chromatin states across generations in C. elegans
Isa Özdemir1, Florian A Steiner1
1Department of Molecular Biology and Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva, Section of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Epigenetic inheritance refers to the transmission of phenotypes across generations without affecting the genomic DNA sequence. Even though it has been documented in many species in fungi, animals and plants, the mechanisms underlying epigenetic inheritance are not fully uncovered. Epialleles, the heritable units of epigenetic information, can take the form of several biomolecules, including histones and their post-translational modifications (PTMs). Here, we review the recent advances in the understanding of the transmission of histone variants and histone PTM patterns across generations in C. elegans. We provide a general overview of the intergenerational and transgenerational inheritance of histone PTMs and their modifiers and discuss the interplay among different histone PTMs. We also evaluate soma-germ line communication and its impact on the inheritance of epigenetic traits.
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