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“Inheritance & the environment: a brief history of a complicated relationship” — Breaking Ground with Eric Richards

In this era of genomics, it is easy to think of an organism’s characteristics as strictly determined by the genes it has inherited from its parents. But the environment in which an organism lives is also important, which raises intriguing questions. Where is the balance struck between these determining factors? More provocatively, can the environment alter inherited information?

Some insight into these questions can be gained by examining the shifting views about how the environment can shape biological variation and influence inheritance. In this Breaking Ground, BTI’s Eric Richards will take us through a selective history of competing ideas regarding the interplay among the environment, biological diversity and inheritance, starting in 18th century France and moving through current-day conceptions of epigenetics. Along the way, we will consider how BTI’s own history and the study of plants fit into this narrative.