Can hunger be inherited?

A few hundred years ago, French biologist Jean-Baptiste Ramak (1744-1829) suggested that biology could inherit the acquired trait of the environment to future generations, causing evolution. For example, in order to eat the tree leaves, the giraffe's neck was stretched. The acquired long neck is inherited to future generations, making their necks longer and longer.

However, Darwin believes that variation is random, only a competitive advantage of the mutation in order to obtain genetic opportunities. The discovery of genetic genes supports Darwin's theory that Lamarck's theory disappears in the long history.

However, Lamarck is not entirely unreasonable. In recent years, scientists have found that if a woman experiences a famine age, her children and grandchildren are prone to obesity or other metabolic diseases. Animal experiments also support this phenomenon: long-term high-fat diet of male mice, will lead to female offspring obesity.

How does the acquired experience affect the health of the next generation? Recently, scientists at the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have found that small RNAs, an RNA that regulates the expression of certain genes but does not encode proteins, may play an important role. Researchers have found that a row of six-day plants of C. elegans produced a special group of small RNAs that could be inherited for at least three generations - even if they were not starving. These small RNAs are regulated by genes associated with nutrition.