Scientists have suspected for a long time now that the genes that are passed down to use could contain “memories” of the trauma suffered by our ancestors.

Studies have been done on the descendants of African slaves and Holocaust survivors, and each time, the evidence that the current generation “remembers” – at least in their nervous system – those trials is compelling.

Now, a study seems to suggest that the same could be true even of the world’s simplest life forms.

We know that bacteria retain a record of the effects of their current environment, but the new study shows proof that this record is passed on to subsequent generations.

It adds to the lexicon of ways biologists believe evolution and genetics work together to create the strongest possible version of any given thing.

In the case of bacteria, though, it could help us mitigate the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.

Senior study author Adilson Motter issued a statement, talking about how understanding how genes being silenced or activated by environmental conditions could be a game-changer.

“A central assumption in bacterial biology is that heritable physical characteristics are determined primarily by DNA. But, from the perspective of complex systems, we know that information also can be stored at the level of the network of regulatory relationships among genes. We wanted to explore whether there are characteristics transmitted from parents to offspring that are not encoded in DNA, but rather in the regulatory network itself.”

Bacteria isn’t as complicated as animals, plants, or something like yeast, but the fact that it replicates so quickly works in its favor as a test subject.

“In the case of complex organisms, the challenge lies in disentangling confounding factors such as survivor bias. But perhaps we can isolate the causes for the simplest single-cell organisms, since we can control their environment and interrogate their genetics. If we observe something in this case, we can attribute the origin of non-genetic inheritance to a limited number of possibilities – in particular, changes in gene regulation.”

When the bacteria’s genes are “temporarily perturbed,” subsequent generations will have the same genes as the bacteria before perturbation, but this team says the cell may not look or behave the same way.

Not all perturbation will produce long-term effects, and the team says they identified factors that increased the chances that it would.

“When a perturbed gene is located close to a strongly connected component of the regulatory network, it is more likely that the effects will carry on, even after the gene’s usual status has been restored.”

This is in line with other studies that prove biological memories can last for generations.

There could be a way to manipulate this to ensure that future generations of a bacteria are susceptible to antibiotics, but more research is needed.

It is interesting to know we have something in common with even the smallest inhabitants of our world.

Interesting, but not surprising.

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