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Epigenetic inheritance is the inheritance of epigenetic marks on the DNA induced by environmental factors. A simple examples of this is permutation, this was described first in plants. What happens is the shape or color of the seed alters the homologous allele. These marks alter gene expression patterns, which can be transmitted to the next generation. This means that environmental cues can influence the development of the organism’s offspring.

This is similar to the evolution theory of Lamarck. He stated that an organism can pass physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime on to its offspring. Though, this is not entirely true, a lot of organisms have traits or genes that they don't use but epigenetic inheritance, like environmental factors such as temperature or food availability during the parent’s life can impact the development of the offspring. An example of this is nutrition in the youth, genes aren't the only thing that control things in the body. Poor nutrition can slow down and heavily delay the smooth transition of puberty in a child.

This can also force some genes that were null to become activated and other genes to turn off. Many do not consider this phenomenon, and it is quite interesting to consider that things like malnutrition and temperature in one organism can affect the following generations of that organism.[1]