Structural inheritance: Difference between revisions

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'''Structural inheritance''' or '''cortical inheritance''' is the transmission of an [[epigenetics|epigenetic]] 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 name="pmid15272271">{{cite journal |vauthors=Soto C, Castilla J | title = The controversial protein-only hypothesis of prion propagation | journal = Nat. Med. | volume = 10 Suppl | issue = 7| pages = S63–7 |date=July 2004 | pmid = 15272271 | doi = 10.1038/nm1069 }}</ref> Prions based on heritable protein structure also exist in [[yeast]].<ref name="pmid7569955">{{cite journal |vauthors=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 |date=October 1995 | pmid = 7569955 | doi = 10.1126/science.270.5233.93 }}</ref><ref name="pmid8973157">{{cite journal |vauthors=Tuite MF, Lindquist SL | title = Maintenance and inheritance of yeast prions | journal = Trends Genet. | volume = 12 | issue = 11 | pages = 467–71 |date=November 1996 | pmid = 8973157 | doi = 10.1016/0168-9525(96)10045-7 }}</ref><ref name="pmid11573346">{{cite journal |vauthors=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 | doi = }}</ref> Structural inheritance has also been seen in the orientation of [[cilium|cilia]] in protozoans such as ''[[Paramecium]]''<ref name="pmid14294056">{{cite journal |vauthors=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 = 2| pages = 275–82 |date=February 1965 | pmid = 14294056 | pmc = 219507 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.53.2.275 }}</ref> and ''[[Tetrahymena]]'',<ref name="Nelsen89">{{cite journal |vauthors=Nelsen EM, Frankel J, Jenkins LM | title = Non-genic inheritance of cellular handedness | journal = Development | volume = 105 | issue = 3 | pages = 447–56 |date=March 1989 | pmid = 2612360 | doi = | url = http://dev.biologists.org/content/105/3/447.full.pdf }}</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. To emphasize the difference of the molecular mechanism of structural inheritance from the canonical [[Base pair|Watson-Crick base pairing]] mechanism of transmission of genetic information, the term 'Epigenetic templating' was introduced.<ref name="pmid16809769">{{cite journal |vauthors=Viens A, Mechold U, Brouillard F, Gilbert C, Leclerc P, Ogryzko V | title = Analysis of human histone H2AZ deposition in vivo argues against its direct role in epigenetic templating mechanisms | journal = Mol. Cell. Biol. | volume = 26 | issue = 14 | pages = 5325–35 |date=July 2006 | pmid = 16809769 | pmc = 1592707 | doi = 10.1128/MCB.00584-06 }}</ref><ref name="pmid18419815">{{cite journal | author = Ogryzko VV | title = Erwin Schroedinger, Francis Crick and epigenetic stability | journal = Biol. Direct | volume = 3 | issue = | pages = 15 | year = 2008 | pmid = 18419815 | pmc = 2413215 | doi = 10.1186/1745-6150-3-15 }}</ref>

==History==