Mother has been infected with pathogens, and her children and grandchildren have known each other for four consecutive generations

When an organism encounters a threat in its environment, it is beneficial for that species to warn other species of the danger

In an early study, Murphy's laboratory found that infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa allowed the nematodes to learn to avoid the bacteria, and that they could give offspring the impression of this avoidance behavior in the next four generations

Murphy explained: "We have found that a nematode can learn to avoid this pathogen.

This finding suggests that nematodes secrete signals that can change their behavior when caught by other nematodes

Murphy said: "We found that a retrotransposon called Cer1, which can form virus-like particles, seems to carry memories not only between tissues (from the germline of the nematode to neurons) but also between individuals

A retrotransposon is a genetic element, similar to a virus, which inserts itself into the DNA of the host animal

Murphy said: "We believe that Cer1 may give nematodes an advantage in the fight against pathogens.

"Murphy et al.

Although other studies have shown that animals such as sea hares can transfer memories between individuals, this research is the first to propose the mechanism by which such memory transfer occurs in nature

Mello asked: "Why do animals need viruses to signal to their offspring? What is being transferred?"

Mello said that in order to prove the evolutionary relationship between nematodes and Cer1 reverse transcription factors, it will be important to fill these gaps in understanding

Original search: Rebecca S.