A new study published in the journal 'Biological Psychiatry' found that the trauma experienced by Holocaust survivors caused genetic changes that might be passed down to their children.
The results are an example of “epigenetic inheritance”, i.e. genetic changes caused by environmental factors, such as smoking, diet, or stress. In these cases, the underlying genetic code remains unchanged, but some of the chemical tags that get attached to genes throughout a person’s life get passed down.
The new study involved 32 Holocaust survivors and 22 of their children, as well as a control group of people of a similar demographic. It is the first example that shows how epigenetic changes in humans caused by trauma can be inherited.
Only Holocaust survivors and their children showed chemical tags on the FKBP5 gene, which is associated with how people respond to stress. These chemical tags don’t alter how the gene works. Instead, they regulate when the gene gets turned on or off, and can have a huge impact on how the person responds to stress.
Most epigenentic changes are erased before during the process of fertilization. However, in the past few decades some changes have been found to slip through. How that happens is not clear.
