A mother’s response to stress can even influence her grandchildren.
Biologists at the University of Iowa found that roundworm mothers subjected to heat stress passed, under certain conditions and through modifications to their genes, the legacy of that stress exposure not only to their offspring but even to their offspring’s children.
The researchers, led by Veena Prahlad, associate professor in the Department of Biology and the Aging Mind and Brain Initiative, looked at how a mother roundworm reacts when she senses danger, such as a change in temperature, which can be harmful or even fatal to the animal. In a study published last year, the biologists discovered the mother roundworm releases serotonin when she senses danger. The serotonin travels from her central nervous system to warn her unfertilized eggs, where the warning is stored, so to speak, and then passed to offspring after…
