Re: Re: HYB: Rebloom Inheritance-Epigenomics

 I thought I would mention a particulatly interesting
episode of 'Nova' that was on last week concerning the
epigenome. We all know about DNA and how it passes
information on to offspring. This program dealt with
the existence of chemicals which can attach to a gene
and turn it off or on. What was unexpected is that
these attached epigenes can pass from parent to
offspring and that they are often created by
environmental conditions. They showed how twins that
where genetically alike could be very differnt because
of their epigenomes being different. They mentioned
that plant genomes are much more complex than human
genomes. If one wanted to apply this to rebloomers
there might be scenarios like the following. A known
rebloomer goes through a drought. The environment
conditions cause  epigenomes to attach to the DNA and
inhibit a gene for rebloom. Even though and offspring
would still have the gene it would have not be
expressed becuase the parent experienced the drought.
In theory one could have two plants of the same clone
and have them behave differently because they
previously experienced different growing conditions
and they could pass this on to their children. The
conclusion was a new twist to nature vs nurture in
that effects of nurture could actually persist several
generations just as nature(DNA) carries information
from one generation to the next. The way you live your
life may effect the lives of your grandchildren.

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