Structural inheritance: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:03, 4 January 2015

Revision as of 07:32, 8 February 2015

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==History==

'''Cortical Inheritance''' or [[structural inheritance]] was discovered by [[Tracy Sonneborn]], and other researchers, during his study on [[protozoa]] in the late 1930s. Sonneborn demonstrated during his research on [[Paramecium]] that the structure of the cortex was not dependent on genes, or the liquid cytoplasm, but in the cortical structure of the surface of the ciliates. Preexisting cell surface structures provided a template that was passed on for many generations.<ref name="pmid16554410">{{cite journal | author = Preer JR | title = Sonneborn and the cytoplasm | journal = Genetics | volume = 172 | issue = 3 | pages = 1373–7 |date=March 2006 | pmid = 16554410 | pmc = 1456306 | doi = | url = | issn = }}</ref>

John R. Preer, Jr., following up on Sonneborn's work, says, "The arrangement of surface structures is inherited, but how is not known, Macronuclei pass on many of their characteristics to new macronuclei, by an unknown and mysterious mechanism."<ref name="pmid9071578">{{cite journal | author = Preer JR | title = Whatever happened to paramecium genetics? | journal = Genetics | volume = 145 | issue = 2 | pages = 217–25 |date=February 1997 | pmid = 9071578 | pmc = 1207789 | doi = | url = | issn = }}</ref>

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==In Popular Culture==

An article in Newsweek mentions research that shows that "Some water fleas sport a spiny helmet that deters predators; others, with identical DNA sequences, have bare heads. What differs between the two is not their genes but their mothers' experiences. If mom had a run-in with predators, her offspring have helmets, an effect one wag called "bite the mother, fight the daughter." If mom lived her life unthreatened, her offspring have no helmets. Same DNA, different traits. Somehow, the experience of the mother, not only her DNA sequences, has been transmitted to her offspring."<ref>{{cite web|author=by Sharon BegleyJanuary 17, 2009 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2009/01/16/the-sins-of-the-fathers-take-2.html |title=Begley: Was Darwin Wrong About Evolution? |publisher=Newsweek |date=2009-01-17 |accessdate=2011-06-30}}</ref>

Various additional examples of structural inheritance are presented in the recent book ''[[Origination of Organismal Form]]''.