Have a conjecture that soon someone's going to be discovering a memory gene in the human genome. This doesn't seem to be have been done or published in any scientific literature so far. The concept of Genetic Memory from an online game is close, but then that's fiction.
The idea of the memory gene is that this gene on the human genome will act as a memory card. Whatever data the individual writes to the memory gene in their lifetime can be later retrieved by their progenies in their lifetimes. The space available in the memory gene would be small compared to what is available in the brain. If the disk space of the human brain is a Petabyte (= 10^12 Kilobytes), space of the memory gene would be about 10 Kilobytes. So very little can be written to the memory gene.
Unlike the brain to which every bit of information (visual, aural, textual, etc.) can be written to at will, writing to the memory gene would require some serious intent & need. Writing to the memory gene would be more akin to etching on a brass plate - strenuous but permanent. The intent would be largely triggered by the individual's experience(s), particularly ones that triggers strong emotions perhaps beneficial to survival. Once written to the memory gene this information would carry forward to the offsprings.
The human genome is known to have about 2% coding DNA & the rest non-coding DNA. The coding portions carry the instructions (genetic instructions) to synthesize proteins, while the purpose of the non-coding portions is not clearly known so far. The memory gene is likely to have a memory addressing mechanism, followed by the actual memory data stored in the large non coding portion.
At the early age of 2 or 3 years, when a good portion of brain development has happened in the individual, the memory recovery will begin. The mRNA, ribosome & the rest of the translation machinery will get to work in translating the genetic code from the memory gene to synthesize the appropriate proteins & biomolecules of the brain cell. In the process the memory data would be restored block by block in the brain. This would perhaps happen over a period of low activity such as night's sleep. The individual would later awaken to new transferred knowledge about unknowns, that would appear to be intuitive. Since the memory recovery would take place at an early age, conflicts in experiences between the individual and the ancestor wouldn't happen.
These are some basic features of the very complex memory gene. As mentioned earlier, this is purely a conjecture and shouldn't be taken otherwise. Look forward to exploring genuine scientific researches in this space as they get formalized & shared.
Update 1 (27-Aug-19):
For some real research take a look at the following:
=>> Arch Gene:
Neuronal gene Arc required for synaptic plasticity and cognition. Resemble retroviral/retrotransposon in their transfer between cells followed by activity dependent translation. These studies throw light on a completely new way through which neurons could send genetic information to one another. More details from the 2018 publication available here:
=>> Memories pass between generations (2013):
When grand-parent generation mice are taught to fear an odor, their next two generations (children & grand-children) retain the fear:
=>> Epigenetics & Cellular Memory (1970s onwards):
=>> Psychology - Genetic Memory (1940s onwards):Largely focused on the phenomenon of knowing things that weren't explicitly learned by an individual:
The idea of the memory gene is that this gene on the human genome will act as a memory card. Whatever data the individual writes to the memory gene in their lifetime can be later retrieved by their progenies in their lifetimes. The space available in the memory gene would be small compared to what is available in the brain. If the disk space of the human brain is a Petabyte (= 10^12 Kilobytes), space of the memory gene would be about 10 Kilobytes. So very little can be written to the memory gene.
Unlike the brain to which every bit of information (visual, aural, textual, etc.) can be written to at will, writing to the memory gene would require some serious intent & need. Writing to the memory gene would be more akin to etching on a brass plate - strenuous but permanent. The intent would be largely triggered by the individual's experience(s), particularly ones that triggers strong emotions perhaps beneficial to survival. Once written to the memory gene this information would carry forward to the offsprings.
The human genome is known to have about 2% coding DNA & the rest non-coding DNA. The coding portions carry the instructions (genetic instructions) to synthesize proteins, while the purpose of the non-coding portions is not clearly known so far. The memory gene is likely to have a memory addressing mechanism, followed by the actual memory data stored in the large non coding portion.
At the early age of 2 or 3 years, when a good portion of brain development has happened in the individual, the memory recovery will begin. The mRNA, ribosome & the rest of the translation machinery will get to work in translating the genetic code from the memory gene to synthesize the appropriate proteins & biomolecules of the brain cell. In the process the memory data would be restored block by block in the brain. This would perhaps happen over a period of low activity such as night's sleep. The individual would later awaken to new transferred knowledge about unknowns, that would appear to be intuitive. Since the memory recovery would take place at an early age, conflicts in experiences between the individual and the ancestor wouldn't happen.
These are some basic features of the very complex memory gene. As mentioned earlier, this is purely a conjecture and shouldn't be taken otherwise. Look forward to exploring genuine scientific researches in this space as they get formalized & shared.
Update 1 (27-Aug-19):
For some real research take a look at the following:
=>> Arch Gene:
Neuronal gene Arc required for synaptic plasticity and cognition. Resemble retroviral/retrotransposon in their transfer between cells followed by activity dependent translation. These studies throw light on a completely new way through which neurons could send genetic information to one another. More details from the 2018 publication available here:
- https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/memory-gene-goes-viral
- https://www.cell.com/cell/comments/S0092-8674(17)31504-0
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29328915/
=>> Memories pass between generations (2013):
When grand-parent generation mice are taught to fear an odor, their next two generations (children & grand-children) retain the fear:
- https://www.bbc.com/news/health-25156510
- https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3594
- https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3603
=>> Epigenetics & Cellular Memory (1970s onwards):
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genetic_memory_(biology)&oldid=882561903
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genomic_imprinting&oldid=908987981
=>> Psychology - Genetic Memory (1940s onwards):Largely focused on the phenomenon of knowing things that weren't explicitly learned by an individual:
- https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/genetic-memory-how-we-know-things-we-never-learned/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genetic_memory_(psychology)&oldid=904552075
- http://www.bahaistudies.net/asma/The-Concept-of-the-Collective-Unconscious.pdf
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious
