Inherited epigenetic information has been observed to regulate a variety of complex organismal phenotypes across diverse taxa of life. This continually expanding body of literature suggests that epigenetic inheritance plays a significant, and potentially fundamental, role in inheritance. Despite the important role these types of effects play in biology, the molecular mediators of this non-genetic transmission of information are just now beginning to be deciphered. Here we provide an intellectual framework for interpreting these findings and how they can interact with each other. We also define the different types of mechanisms that have been found to mediate epigenetic inheritance and to regulate whether epigenetic information persists for one or many generations. The field of epigenetic inheritance is entering an exciting phase, in which we are beginning to understand the mechanisms by which non-genetic information is transmitted to, and deciphered by, subsequent generations to maintain essential environmental information without permanently altering the genetic code. A more complete understanding of how and when epigenetic inheritance occurs will advance our understanding of numerous different aspects of biology ranging from how organisms cope with changing environments to human pathologies influenced by a parent’s environment.

据观察，遗传的表观遗传信息可以调节不同生命类群的各种复杂的有机体表型。这些不断扩大的文献表明，表观遗传在遗传中发挥着重要且潜在的基础作用。尽管这些类型的效应在生物学中发挥着重要作用，但这种非遗传信息传递的分子介质才刚刚开始被破译。在这里，我们提供了一个知识框架来解释这些发现以及它们如何相互作用。我们还定义了已发现的不同类型的机制，这些机制可介导表观遗传并调节表观遗传信息是否持续一代或多代。表观遗传领域正在进入一个令人兴奋的阶段，我们开始了解非遗传信息传递给后代并被后代破译的机制，以在不永久改变遗传密码的情况下维持基本的环境信息。对表观遗传如何以及何时发生的更全面的了解将增进我们对生物学许多不同方面的理解，从生物体如何应对不断变化的环境到受父母环境影响的人类病理。