The phenomenon of enhanced hardiness in cannabis plants can be explained in several ways. From vigorous parents and seed coat mutations, hardiness is a multifaceted trait. Not only is the parent plant's health important, but the parent plant's experiences can indeed impose changes in the offspring's gene expression, too. This is the principle of epigenetic inheritance - inheritable changes that do not alter the DNA sequence itself. Here, Seedsman discusses how it works and its importance in cannabis seed selection.
What is epigenetics?
Epigenetics typically refers to alterations in gene expression, also known as transcriptional regulation changes. What's particularly fascinating about these changes is that they can be imprinted onto the next generation. This means epigenetic changes can be inherited or confined to an individual organism. The heritable kind, often termed epigenetic imprinting, involves modifications in the germ cells (sperm/pollen and egg/ovum), which are then passed down to the offspring. These modifications can influence the expression of genes of specific traits in the next generation, all without altering the DNA sequence. For example, certain characteristics acquired in response to environmental or stress stimuli can be inherited.
Conversely, epigenetic changes within an individual organism occur as shifts in gene expression, possibly restricted to specific life stages like the flowering phase – terpene synthases are very much under epigenetic control and not expressed much, for example, in early life stages. These changes, often triggered by environmental factors like day length, stress, and temperature, or simply as part of the plant's development/aging, can be stable throughout the organism's life. However, unless the expression profile is imprinted in the germ cells, it is not typically passed to the next generation. This dual role of epigenetics can impact an individual's development and leave a heritable mark on the next generation, making it a significant evolutionary development. In this sense, epigenetics is a dynamic layer of regulation that has lasting effects on an individual's development and the potential for intergenerational inheritance.
The phrase "epigenetics" itself was first coined by British developmental biologist Conrad Hal Waddington in the early 1940s. Waddington used the term to describe the interactions between genes and their environment, which bring the phenotype into being. The concept of epigenetics has evolved significantly since Waddington's time and now commonly refers to changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence.
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