New discovery shows you may inherit more from your mom than you think

What if we could inherit more than our parents’ genes? What if we could inherit the ability to turn genes on and off?

These possibilities have come to light after our recent study, published in Nature Communications. We found information in addition to our genes was passed down from mum to offspring to affect how their skeleton develops. That’s the “epigenetic” information that’s normally reset between generations.

Our research was in mice, the first case of its kind in mammals where a long-lasting epigenetic effect from the mother’s egg is carried down to the next generation. This has lifelong consequences for that generation’s health.