FOR THE SINS OF THE FATHERS: Violence and Trauma Leave Marks on Your Genes

Consultant at Jansen Capital Management

FOR THE SINS OF THE FATHERS: Violence and Trauma Leave Marks on Your Genes

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

The role of heredity has long been known to science. But what if it’s not just eye color and nose shape that are inherited? What if our genes are influenced by behavior and the surrounding environment? In an attempt to answer these questions, scientists began studying epigenetic factors — those that operate «on top of» or in addition to genetic ones. Some researchers believe we are still dealing with hypotheses in this area, while others are finding evidence that the memory of traumatic events can be passed down through generations.

THE «SWITCH» IN OUR GENES

he term «epigenetics» was introduced in 1942 by the British biologist Conrad Waddington. However, the concept of epigenesis was already mentioned by Aristotle, who tried to study the specifics of embryonic development in chicken eggs. The ancient Greek philosopher left us a legacy of many medical terms: aorta, glaucoma, diaphragm, leukoma, trachea, and others. His interest in medicine was inherited — making the philosopher himself an excellent illustration of epigenetic theory. Aristotle’s father was a court physician to the grandfather of the great Alexander the Great, and he traced his lineage back to Asclepius—the mythical doctor said to have defied death itself.

Building creatively on the ideas of ancient Greek medicine, Waddington envisioned the organism as something like a river, with its source (conception) and its mouth (maturity). Between these points, the speed, length, and direction of the river are shaped by the terrain it flows through. Similarly, the external environment, including social factors, also influences our development.

By the 1970s, scientists had discovered that external influences can both «turn on» and «turn off» specific genes. In the late 1990s, a new hypothesis emerged: adaptation to the anticipated conditions of life after birth begins already during the formation of the embryo. If this adaptation is successful, the information becomes encoded on a genetic level; if not, dysfunction may arise.

THE EPIGENETIC REVOLUTION

The epigenetic revolution began in the early 2000s, when scientists started reporting that environmental factors — ranging from neglectful parenting and child abuse to high-fat diets and air pollution — can influence the addition or removal of chemical tags on DNA that switch genes on or off.

The concept of an «environmentally sensitive genome» remains a subject of controversy. However, in 2006, the first Nobel Prize was awarded for epigenetic research, and since then, epigenetics has been considered as important a factor in evolution as genetics. The environment does not change the genes themselves, but rather how the organism reads their sequence in the DNA. This phenomenon is called gene expression.

It is epigenetics that makes us different from chimpanzees despite sharing 99% of the same DNA. Epigenetic changes are reversible — if you change. That is if you provide your brain with new information about the conditions around you, such as climate, social environment, physical and mental activity, nutrition, and stress levels. However, the older you get, the more your life will be influenced not so much by your lifestyle as by the epigenetic mechanisms that were programmed during fetal development.

IT’S NOT THE SINS THAT ARE INHERITED BUT THEIR CONSEQUENCES

New scientific findings render the Bible’s seemingly contradictory statements about «the sins of the fathers» less contradictory after all. On one hand, the Lord «punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation» (Exodus 34:7). At the same time, on the other, He «forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin» and «the son shall not bear the guilt of the father» (Ezekiel 18:20). «Sin» itself is not inherited. However, the circumstances of your ancestors’ lives will still have a profound impact on your own.

Their level of education and upbringing, whether they smoked, experienced famine, or fought in a war — all can leave «epigenetic traces» in a person’s genes and be passed on to future generations. It appears that this «transgenerational epigenetic inheritance» is not unique to humans. It is found in all living things.

Experiments with mice at Emory University in Atlanta showed that fear associated with a specific smell affects the animals and leaves an imprint in the brains of their offspring. Observations of tomatoes revealed that they transmit chemical markers that control the ripening process through the regulation of the ripening gene. Such research once again draws our attention to the theories of the eminent French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who, in the 19th century, was the first to attempt a comprehensive theory of the evolution of all living beings on our planet.

«EXERCISES» IN PERFECTION

Lamarck adhered to the biblical concept of creation and was criticized by the scientific community for what was seen as unscientific creationism. However, it is quite possible that the idea of «Lamarckism» — in which the drive for self-improvement was considered the main engine of evolution — may have been correct. All acquired traits — whether linked to successful «exercises» in self-improvement or the lack thereof — can be inherited by organisms.

Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus was one of the first to be puzzled by the concept of epigenetic marks being passed from one generation to the next. In the 1740s, he received a specimen of a plant resembling common toadflax but with completely different flowers. Linnaeus was shocked, as this challenged his theory that plant species could be classified based on the structure of their flowers. «This is certainly no less remarkable», he wrote, «than if a cow gave birth to a calf with the head of a wolf». He named the plant Peloria, which in Greek means «monster».

In the 1990s, it was proven that plants do indeed transmit epigenetic marks through their seeds to subsequent generations. Later, a «spermatographic signature» was discovered in rodents and humans. Sperm can both acquire and lose epigenetic markers. Men who experienced famine before puberty were less likely to have grandchildren with heart disease or diabetes than men who had abundant diets. And those who started smoking before the age of 11 had an increased likelihood of fathering boys with above-average birth weight.

INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA

The existence of epigenetic phenomena is no longer disputed. However, for biologists, many of these mechanisms still represent a «black box». Criticism stems from significant gaps in understanding how everything works. For instance, not all scientists agree that trauma can be inherited. Nevertheless, studies on the descendants of Holocaust survivors and victims of the Rwandan genocide suggest that it indeed can.

No analysis of intergenerational trauma has yet been conducted on Ukrainian material, but there is every reason to believe that Russia’s aggression in Ukraine will reveal similar genetic consequences. The idea that the genetic imprints of the trauma experienced by fathers and grandfathers can be passed on to children and grandchildren is also confirmed by recent studies of families affected by the conflict in Syria.

The past 40 years of Syrian history have been marked by near-continuous trauma. Its beginning can be traced back to June 1979, when then-president Hafez al-Assad began suppressing an uprising. In 1982, his troops shelled the city of Hama, killing around 30,000 people. The second peak of violence came in 2011, when Bashar, the son of Hafez al-Assad, used the military to quell a new wave of uprisings.

THE GENETIC «RESET» MAY FAIL

In an article published in Scientific Reports, scientists described a comparison of epigenetic markers across three groups. The first included 10 Syrian families who fled the war in the 1980s. The second consisted of 22 refugee families who escaped for their lives in 2011. The third included 16 families that had not experienced war-related violence. The authors found that adults and children in the first two groups had distinct epigenetic marks on specific segments of their DNA.

What’s more, these markers on the maternal side persisted across three — and sometimes even four — generations, appearing in the daughters and grandchildren of women who had witnessed killings, beatings, and repression by Syrian authorities. How is this even possible? After all, in the early stages of human development, as in all mammals, a genomic «memory reset» mechanism is supposed to be triggered.

Biology does not support DNA modification as a means of intergenerational transmission. Therefore, when egg cells interact with sperm, all markers are erased — or rather, almost all. There is a possibility that specific DNA segments may evade «reprogramming». To study the epigenetic traces of traumatic events in greater detail, researchers plan to continue their work using genetic material from four generations of Palestinians.

Original research: