What Are Acquired Traits? | Can Acquired Traits Be Inherited?

An Acquired Trait is a trait in a living organism’s structure or function that occurs after birth as a result of a disease, accident, intentional alteration, variation, frequent usage, abuse, or other environmental factors. They are not transmitted through reproduction to offspring.

Read how Acquired Traits are Different from Inherited Traits

The alterations that make up acquired traits can take on a variety of forms and levels of visibility, but they all have similar traits. After birth, they alter a living organism’s structure or function in some way.

Are Acquired Traits Permanent?

Blisters, bruises, and shaving body hair are examples of acquired features that are minor and transient. Corrective eye surgery and organ transplant or removal are both permanent but undetectable or undetectable.

Vaccination and laser hair removal are semi-permanent yet covert or invisible features. Amputations, perms, tattoos, and scars all have high visibility and are semi-permanent.

Some traits like Wearing makeup, nail paint, hair dye, henna, and whitening teeth are not examples of acquired qualities.

They alter an aspect of an organism’s appearance but leave the structure and functionality untouched.

Inheritance Of Acquired Characteristics

Famous scholars in the past who advocated for the inheritance of acquired features included Hippocrates, Aristotle, and French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. However, other well-known theorists like Charles Darwin rejected this hypothesis.

Even though Lamarckism is no longer recognized internationally, there is still debate over whether some acquired features in organisms can be passed down through the generations.

The original hypothesis put forth by Lamarck was that acquired traits might be handed on from parents to their offspring, making the organism better suited to its environment.

But Darwin eventually removed this idea from his book The Theory of Evolution once he had sufficient evidence to demonstrate that acquired traits are not passed down from one generation to the next.

Example Of Acquired Traits

• Scars from injuries, things you’ve learned like how to ride a bike, read, and write

• Things that have occurred to you like having short hair or breaking a bone

• The muscles that a bodybuilder develops through food and exercise.

• The loss of a limb as a result of trauma.

• The meticulous cultivation methods used to reduce bonsai plants to miniature size.

Can Acquired Traits Be Inherited?

Some data points to the possibility of hereditary acquired features. The Dutch famine during World War II is the classic example.

The offspring of starving women who gave birth during the famine were more likely to develop obesity and other metabolic abnormalities, and the same was true of their grandchildren.

Controlled studies have produced comparable findings, with recent mouse research proving that dads’ long-term high-fat diets cause obesity in their daughters.

Despite this, no one has been able to explain a convincing biological basis for Lamarckian inheritance.

Some scientists believed that RNA interference (RNAi) may contribute to the transmission of acquired features. Cells use RNAi, a natural mechanism, to quiet or turn down particular genes.

It is frequently used by organisms as a defense mechanism against viruses and other genomic parasites. For RNAi to function, mRNA, the molecular messengers that transmit information encoded in a gene to the cell’s protein-making machinery, must be destroyed. A gene is dormant without its mRNA.

Latest Research About Acquired Traits

• Scientists investigated the relationship between childhood betrayal trauma, adult dissociation, and psychopathy traits in a community sample. Childhood betrayal trauma was linked to psychopathy and callous affect traits, mediated by dissociative experiences. [1]
• Scientists have discovered that pandemic Vibrio cholerae acquired competitive traits from an environmental Vibrio species, Vibrio anguillarum. The study identified potential gene transfer events and demonstrated cross-neutralization of effector-immunity pairs, suggesting that V. anguillarum may have initially facilitated competition for an environmental niche. [2]
• Scientists examined how specific personality traits contribute to suicide risk within an interpersonal theory framework. The study found that facet-level traits within broad personality domains may better explain the relationship between personality traits and suicide risk factors. [3]
• In mice, DNA methylation of specific genes can be transmitted from parents to offspring, resulting in abnormal metabolic phenotypes that persist across multiple generations. This study provides evidence for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in mammals and may have implications for understanding human diseases. [4]