Although the pregnant rats' DNA sequences themselves were not changed, the biochemical exposure affected how genes were turned on or off, and that modification — the epigenetic action — was inherited along with the genetic sequences, said Michael Skinner, a professor of environmental epigenetics and reproductive biology at WSU.
The field of epigenetics refines — and complicates — the standard way of thinking about inheritance and genetics, which relies heavily on the concept of mutations to explain disease processes.
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