How are skills and traits passed on genetically?

Do scientists have any understanding of the mechanisms that skills, that animals such as humans, learn and pass to their offspring via th...

02 July 2006

Part of the show Sex Chromosomes, Genetics and Food Webs

NS_Logo_Pod_Teaser.png

Question

Do scientists have any understanding of the mechanisms that skills, that animals such as humans, learn and pass to their offspring via their genetic code?

Answer

That's a very difficult question to answer. I'm not aware of there being any evidence for learning of particular skills then becoming hard wired in the DNA. This was a theory that was quite popular in the early twentieth century that perhaps things could get hard wired into the DNA, but I'm not sure there is a mechanism for that to occur.