This December 3, 2019, French review title was “Transgenerational Inheritance of Environmentally Induced Epigenetic Alterations during Mammalian Development”:

“We attempt to summarize our current knowledge about transgenerational inheritance of environmentally induced epigenetic changes. While the idea that information can be inherited between generations independently of DNA’s nucleotide sequence is not new, the outcome of recent studies provides a mechanistic foundation for the concept.

Systematic resetting of epigenetic marks between generations represents the largest hurdle to conceptualizing epigenetic inheritance. Our understanding of rates and causes of epimutations remains rudimentary.

Environmental exposure to toxicants could promote changes in germline cells at any developmental stage, with more dramatic effects being observed during embryonic germ cell reprogramming. Epigenetic factors and their heritability should be considered during disease risk assessment.”

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This review showed an inexplicable lack of thorough research. 2017 was its latest citation of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance studies from Washington State University labs of Dr. Michael Skinner. I’ve curated six of the labs’ 2019 studies!

1. Transgenerational diseases caused by great-grandmother DDT exposure;
2. Another important transgenerational epigenetic inheritance study;
3. The transgenerational impact of Roundup exposure;
4. Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance mechanisms that lead to prostate disease;
5. A transgenerational view of the rise in obesity; and
6. Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance extends to the great-great-grand offspring.

This lack led to – among other items – equivocal statements where current definitive evidence could have been cited. This review was submitted on October 31, 2019, and all above studies were available.

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The publisher provided insight into the peer review process via https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/8/12/1559/review_report:

• Peer reviewer 1: “Taking into account that this is not my main area of expertise..Do the authors really believe in that?”
• Peer reviewer 2 provided a one-paragraph non-review.
• Peer reviewer 3: “The authors are missing a large sector of what types of environmental factors can influence methylation and do not acknowledge that other sources exist.”

Authors responded with changes or otherwise addressed peer reviewer comments.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/8/12/1559/htm “Transgenerational Inheritance of Environmentally Induced Epigenetic Alterations during Mammalian Development”