Recent research at Tel Aviv University has just challenged one of the basic principles of biology: the Weismann barrier, this study is the first step towards future research on the heritability of knowledge, that is, it opens the door to possibility of inheriting knowledge. of past generations.
Researchers led by Professor Oded Rechavi of the Department of Neurobiology at George S. Wise School of Life Sciences, in collaboration with the Sagol School of Neuroscience, have discovered an RNA-based mechanism that suggests that neurons’ response to the environment may be in other words, the information acquired could affect the behavior of descendants.
- The experiment.
- Presented on June 6.
- 2019.
- Was conducted with a species of worm: nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans).
- The team showed how nervous system cells can transmit information to future generations of worms.
The mechanism of regulation of RNA allows the nervous system of living beings to communicate with the germline, this line would affect the behavior of later generations, that is the good news that this study brings.
So, if this research is correct, it means that the nervous system can control offspring. The discovery questions the Weismann Barrier Reef, one of the most accepted principles in biology, although highly controversial and widely debated in recent decades.
The Weismann barrier is the theory that the acquired characteristics are characteristic of soma cells and are in no way passed on to future generations.
This barrier is the one that differentiates, according to Weismann, the soma cells and germ cells of the body (eggs and sperm).
Freibour A. Weismann was a German biologist and geneticist who presented his findings on hereditary information and inheritance genetic material in a book published in 1892.
According to their theories, changes in germ plasma caused by environmental influences would only affect inheritance if they occurred in germ plasma, but they would not if they occurred in the soma (body) of the cell.
Since then, many academic voices have argued that the somato-germ barrier does not work that way, however, this theory has been based for years on rejecting the legacy of acquired personalities.
The study presented challenged the barrier Weismann. Se used the most modern systems in the survey. The latest CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool was used to create a variant form of a mutant gene or allele.
A genetically coded calcium indicator (GECI) and calcium imaging analysis, GCaMp2, were also used.
To this end, the worms were designed to produce an RDE-4-dependent endo-siRNA only in neurons. The goal was to understand the hereditary effects of neural RNA (small nuclear RNA).
Genetically coded calcium analysis allowed observation of neural activity through optogenetic systems.
Research has concluded that the mRN neuron regulates the genes of the germline and controls the behavior of future generations. This mechanism would control the expression of the germline gene for several generations.
Specifically, it is the neural RDE-4 that controls chemopia for at least three generations, which would be done through ArgonauteHRDE-1, which is limited to the germline.
This discovery of the RNA mechanism that makes communication between nervous system cells and germ cells possible to enable the inheritability of information acquired in later generations can change the way we understand this process.
Future research could confirm how this mechanism works in other animals and humans, no doubt the implications of this study on the knowledge we have on genetics, evolution, epigenetics and intelligence heritability are enormous.