Based on how meiosis works, I can see how methylation could be passed down to offspring. But these changes in methylation would have to occur within the specialized cells which produce sperm and egg. If the methylation pattern changes in your liver or heart cells, it doesn't matter since these somatic cells don't get to pass this information on to offspring.
Females are born with all their eggs, so any changes in methylation that occur to these eggs will persist into adulthood (I assume). But is it possible that these eggs are somehow protected from this alteration? As for sperm, these are produced within the testes following puberty, and are generated continuously. Therefore, in order to pass down altered methylation, the original gamete cells responsible for generating sperm would have to be altered. But if you wanted to do this successfully, you'd have to make sure to alter ALL the gamete cells. Otherwise you're gambling as to which sperm cell hits the pay load. Again, I'm curious if these cells are more or less prone to altered methylation.
I find this whole concept fascinating! Imagine...your dad gets bullied as a kid, results in altered methylation pattern, and this gets passed to you! Wow.
What I also find fascinating is the number of individuals with this sort of background reading/commenting on HN. I think it's great! Are many of you into Bioinformatics?
Females are born with all their eggs, so any changes in methylation that occur to these eggs will persist into adulthood (I assume). But is it possible that these eggs are somehow protected from this alteration? As for sperm, these are produced within the testes following puberty, and are generated continuously. Therefore, in order to pass down altered methylation, the original gamete cells responsible for generating sperm would have to be altered. But if you wanted to do this successfully, you'd have to make sure to alter ALL the gamete cells. Otherwise you're gambling as to which sperm cell hits the pay load. Again, I'm curious if these cells are more or less prone to altered methylation.
I find this whole concept fascinating! Imagine...your dad gets bullied as a kid, results in altered methylation pattern, and this gets passed to you! Wow.