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Description: "Repressive chromatin enables the transgenerational inheritance of longevity in C. elegans"
Generational human studies suggest that the experiences of an ancestor can affect the behavior and health of their descendants. But the mechanisms of this type of transgenerational inheritance have proven challenging to study. We have developed a unique model to study transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, using the nematode C. elegans – importantly, the mechanisms of epigenetic regulation are highly conserved among all eukaryotes, but C. elegans are able to survive disruptions that cause embryonic lethality in other animals, including mammals. In our cells, genomes are packaged into chromatin, in which DNA is wrapped around cores of histone proteins. Modifications are added and removed from histones, regulating access to DNA and therefore, gene expression. We have shown that mutations in histone modifiers can gradually extend lifespan over large spans of generational time, due to a genome-wide accumulation of repressive heterochromatin. Currently, we are investigating how the inappropriate inheritance of heterochromatin affects aging, health and embryonic development.