Individuals vary in their sociosexual behaviors and reactivity. How the organism interacts with the environment to produce this variation has been a focus in psychology since its inception as a scientific discipline. There is now no question that cumulative experiences throughout life history interact with genetic predispositions to shape the individual's behavior. Recent evidence suggests that events in past generations may also influence how an individual responds to events in their own life history. Epigenetics is the study of how the environment can affect the genome of the individual during its development as well as the development of its descendants, all without changing the DNA sequence. Several distinctions must be made if this research is to become a staple in behavioral neuroendocrinology. The first distinction concerns perspective, and the need to distinguish and appreciate, the differences between Molecular versus Molar epigenetics. Each has its own lineage of investigation, yet both appear to be unaware of one another. Second, it is important to distinguish the difference between Context-Dependent versus Germline-Dependent epigenetic modifications. In essence the difference is one of the mechanism of heritability or transmission within, as apposed to across, generations. This review illustrates these distinctions while describing several rodent models that have shown particular promise for unraveling the contribution of genetics and the environment on sociosexual behavior. The first focuses on genetically-modified mice and makes the point that the early litter environment alters subsequent brain activity and behavior. This work emphasizes the need to understand behavioral development when doing research with such animals. The second focuses on a new rat model in which the epigenome is permanently imprinted, an effect that crosses generations to impact the descendants without further exposure to the precipitating agent. This work raises the question of how events in generations past can have consequences at both the mechanistic, behavioral, and ultimately evolutionary levels.

中文翻译：

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表观遗传学及其对行为神经内分泌学的影响


每个人的社会性行为和反应各不相同。自心理学作为一门科学学科诞生以来，有机体如何与环境相互作用以产生这种变化一直是心理学的焦点。毫无疑问，整个生命史中积累的经验与遗传倾向相互作用，塑造了个体的行为。最近的证据表明，过去几代人发生的事件也可能影响个人对自己生活史中事件的反应。表观遗传学是一门研究环境如何影响个体基因组及其后代发育过程的学科，所有这些都不会改变 DNA 序列。如果这项研究要成为行为神经内分泌学的主要内容，就必须做出一些区分。第一个区别涉及视角，以及区分和理解分子与摩尔表观遗传学之间差异的需要。每个人都有自己的调查血统，但两人似乎都不知道对方。其次，区分上下文依赖与种系依赖的表观遗传修饰之间的差异很重要。从本质上讲，差异是代内（而不是跨代）遗传或传播的机制之一。这篇综述阐述了这些区别，同时描述了几种啮齿动物模型，这些模型在揭示遗传和环境对社会性行为的影响方面表现出了特别的希望。第一个重点关注转基因小鼠，并指出早期的窝环境会改变随后的大脑活动和行为。这项工作强调在对此类动物进行研究时需要了解行为发展。 第二个重点是一种新的大鼠模型，其中表观基因组被永久印记，这种效应可以跨代影响后代，而无需进一步暴露于沉淀剂。这项工作提出了一个问题：过去几代人的事件如何在机械、行为和最终进化层面产生影响。