The epigenome molecularly integrates the impact of environmental exposures and directs cellular response and adaptation to these exposures. However, how cells and organisms retain a memory of exposure over the lifecourse and/or over generations is only partially elucidated. The work in the Allard laboratory at UCLA seeks to answer fundamental questions about the pathways that direct epigenetic responses to environmental exposures. We particularly aim to understand how environmental chemicals trigger a locus-specific deregulation of the epigenome that can resist epigenetic reprogramming in germ cells and therefore can become heritable. In this presentation, we will review our recent work establishing the molecular requirements for transmission of environmental information across generations in C. elegans and our on-going research on the molecular encoding of environmental cues through perturbation of the metabolo-epigenetic connection.

Patrick Allard is invited by Julie Cocquet and Alberto de la Iglesia.