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Structural inheritance
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<p>Structural inheritance or cortical inheritance is the transmission of an <a href="/facts/Epigenetics/UfAAERcn">epigenetic</a> trait in a living <a href="/facts/Organism/j8JkL09u">organism</a> by a self-perpetuating spatial structures. This is in contrast to the transmission of digital information such as is found in <a href="/facts/DNA/nB89Iauz">DNA</a> sequences, which accounts for the vast majority of known <a href="/facts/Genetics/bu8wne0A">genetic</a> variation. </p><p>Examples of structural inheritance include the propagation of <a href="/facts/Prion/UJfG9EfS">prions</a>, the infectious proteins of diseases such as <a href="/facts/Scrapie/kQh3c7My">scrapie</a> (in sheep and goats), <a href="/facts/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy/UKYCrfRh">bovine spongiform encephalopathy</a> ('mad cow disease') and <a href="/facts/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease/pq3lqB1y">Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease</a> (although the protein-only hypothesis of prion transmission has been considered contentious until recently). Prions based on heritable protein structure also exist in <a href="/facts/Yeast/eGD24nfI">yeast</a>. Structural inheritance has also been seen in the orientation of <a href="/facts/Cilium/C9l436HM">cilia</a> in protozoans such as <i><a href="/facts/Paramecium/s82lDhHe">Paramecium</a></i> and <i><a href="/facts/Tetrahymena/jo72mbCS">Tetrahymena</a></i>, and 'handedness' of the spiral of the cell in <i>Tetrahymena</i>, and shells of snails. Some <a href="/facts/Organelle/vhDFnGbs">organelles</a> also have structural inheritance, such as the <a href="/facts/Centriole/yphJbFlH">centriole</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Cell_(biology)/bLM9UQvy">cell</a> itself (defined by the <a href="/facts/Plasma_membrane/vAXSD0DT">plasma membrane</a>) may also be an example of structural inheritance. To emphasize the difference of the molecular mechanism of structural inheritance from the canonical <a href="/facts/Base_pair/xmPpPQ9W">Watson-Crick base pairing</a> mechanism of transmission of genetic information, the term 'epigenetic templating' was introduced. </p>