Epigenetic cell memory

Abstract: The inheritance involves the transmission of DNA sequence and nongenetic information, as epigenetic modifications, across generations, contributing to parent-offspring similarity. Epigenetic inheritance concerns changes in DNA expression contributes to the transgenerational transmission of phenotypic variation. In this way, phenotypic modifications, which are usually mediated by changes in environmental conditions, can be heritable also from one generation to the next. In the new concept of epigenetic inheritance, epigenetic modifications, which become part of the cellular information cycle, are expressed as a phenotype and are passed on to subsequent generations. This article summarizes the epigenetic inheritance from microorganisms to humans, highlighting how this process has implications for human health. Moreover, there are reported some known mechanisms that allow remembering the functional adaptation to environmental changes, which consists of epigenetic memory.