Short-term intense heat can affect not only the human body but also future generations.
Earth.com reports on this.
According to the study, heat stress can create a kind of "memory" in genes, and this effect can be transmitted to subsequent generations. As a result, the development of generations can accelerate, and the functioning of the organism may change.
The research was conducted on fruit flies. Scientists compared two populations from Finland's cool climate and Spain's warm region. Female flies were exposed to a temperature of 37 degrees for a short period.
As a result, thousands of heat-protective genes were activated. The more interesting point emerged in the next stage: gene changes were observed even in generations not exposed to high temperatures.
Particularly in the Spanish population, these changes persisted for several generations. The generations of such flies developed faster and reached maturity earlier.
Scientists believe that such changes can play an important role in adapting to climate change. The organism can transmit its experienced stress without changing DNA - through epigenetic mechanisms./oxu.az