Violence alters human genes for generations, researchers discover

[DBoon]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/02/250227125524.htm

In 1982, the Syrian government besieged the city of Hama, killing tens of thousands of its own citizens in sectarian violence. Four decades later, rebels used the memory of the massacre to help inspire the toppling of the Assad family that had overseen the operation.

But there is another lasting effect of the attack, hidden deep in the genes of Syrian families. The grandchildren of women who were pregnant during the siege -- grandchildren who never experienced such violence themselves -- nonetheless bear marks of it in their genomes. Passed down through their mothers, this genetic imprint offers the first human evidence of a phenomenon previously documented only in animals: The genetic transmission of stress across generations.
...
In the grandchildren of Hama survivors, the researchers discovered 14 areas in the genome that had been modified in response to the violence their grandmothers experienced. These 14 modifications demonstrate that stress-induced epigenetic changes may indeed appear in future generations, just as they can in animals.

The study also uncovered 21 epigenetic sites in the genomes of people who had directly experienced violence in Syria. In a third finding, the researchers reported that people exposed to violence while in their mothers' wombs showed evidence of accelerated epigenetic aging, a type of biological aging that may be associated with susceptibility to age-related diseases.

[Pinback]

1. Exhibit 1 for Reparations. (nt)

[slightlv]

2. The stress felt from a very depressed mother-to-be

may explain why so many of us are experiencing major depressive episodes now (along with trump increasing the stress in the here-and-now). If so, generations of our kids and grandkids will be paying the cost of trump's misadministration, and not just in $$$.

[BadgerKid]

3. Reminds me of domestication of wolves into dogs

but in reverse. I wonder what epigenetic markers we'd see change in generations of gun-toting, stay-off-my-lawn, conspiracy-perceiving, self-centered ... citizens.

[99MainSt]

4. This finding appears to add some measure of Lamarckian Inheritance theory to Darwinian evolution by natural selection.

According to Darwinian evolution, constant environmental culling eliminates those who do not survive long enough to pass on viable offspring. Only the most adaptable genes remain. The remaining genes are unaltered by the practices or experiences of past generations.

In a slight twist, this study of Syrian families demonstrates an imprint on the genes of subsequent generations. It doesn't cancel out Darwinian evolution but adds a new complication. More study is needed showing to what extent genes can be altered by life experience.

I do not wish to underplay the human tragedy involved with this study. The social implications are important. But the biological evidence can also add a better understanding of the human condition.