'''Structural inheritance''' or [[Cortical'''cortical Inheritance]]inheritance''' is the transmission of a trait in a living [[organism]] by a self-perpetuating spatial structures. This is in contrast to the transmission of digital information such as is found in [[DNA]] sequences, which accounts for the vast majority of known [[genetics|genetic]] variation.
Examples of structural inheritance include the propagation of [[prion]]s, the infectious proteins of diseases such as [[scrapie]] (in sheep and goats), [[bovine spongiform encephalopathy]] ('mad cow disease') and [[Creutzfeld-Jakob disease]] (although the protein-only hypothesis of prion transmission has been considered contentious until recently.) <ref>{{cite journal |author=Soto C, Castilla J |title=The controversial protein-only hypothesis of prion propagation |journal=Nat. Med. |volume=10 |issue=Suppl |pages=S63–7 |year=2004 |month=July |pmid=15272271 |doi=10.1038/nm1069}}</ref> Prions based on heritable protein structure also exist in [[yeast]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.270.5233.93 |author=Masison DC, Wickner RB |title=Prion-inducing ___domain of yeast Ure2p and protease resistance of Ure2p in prion-containing cells |journal=Science |volume=270 |issue=5233 |pages=93–5 |year=1995 |month=October |pmid=7569955 |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=7569955}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/0168-9525(96)10045-7 |author=Tuite MF, Lindquist SL |title=Maintenance and inheritance of yeast prions |journal=Trends Genet. |volume=12 |issue=11 |pages=467–71 |year=1996 |month=November |pmid=8973157 |url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0168-9525(96)10045-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Serio TR, Cashikar AG, Kowal AS, Sawicki GJ, Lindquist SL |title=Self-perpetuating changes in Sup35 protein conformation as a mechanism of heredity in yeast |journal=Biochem. Soc. Symp. |volume= |issue=68 |pages=35–43 |year=2001 |pmid=11573346 }}</ref>. Structural inheritance has also been seen in the orientation of [[cilium|cilia]] in protozoans such as ''[[Paramecium]]''<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.53.2.275 |author=Beisson J, Sonneborn TM |title=Cytoplasmic inheritance of the organization of the cell cortex in ''Paramecium Aurelia'' |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=53 |issue= |pages=275–82 |year=1965 |month=February |pmid=14294056 |pmc=219507 }}</ref> and ''[[Tetrahymena]]'',<ref name=Nelsen89>{{cite journal |author=Nelsen EM, Frankel J, Jenkins LM |title=Non-genic inheritance of cellular handedness |journal=Development |volume=105 |issue=3 |pages=447–56 |year=1989 |month=March |pmid=2612360 |url=http://dev.biologists.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=2612360}} </ref> and 'handedness' of the spiral of the cell in ''Tetrahymena'',<ref name=Nelsen89/> and shells of snails. Some [[organelle]]s also have structural inheritance, such as the [[centriole]], and the [[cell (biology)|cell]] itself (defined by the [[plasma membrane]]) may also be an example of structural inheritance.
Various additional examples of structural inheritance are presented in the recent book ''[[Origination of Organismal Form]]''.
