Exposure to a fungicide induced changes to gene expression in rats that persisted for at least 20 generations. It also increased the chance of offspring developing kidney disease, obesity or experiencing complications when giving birth, according to the longest-running study1 of 'epigenetic' changes in mammals. Evidence is accumulating that environmental exposures, such as to chemicals, can induce heritable changes that do not alter an organism's DNA. These tweaks to the chemical markers on the DNA occur in germ cells, which are then passed on to future generations. But most studies have focused on directly exposed generations rather than subsequent generations. The latest study, by Michael Skinner, who studies epigenetic inheritence at Washington State University in Pullman, and his colleagues, studied the effect of exposing an initial generation of rats to the fungicide vinclozolin on 20 subsequent generations. The researchers found that the rats that had ancestral exposure had...
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