There violence remains in our genes, leaving Signs on DNA which can be transmitted for generations: they are the disturbing conclusions of a study led byUniversity of Florida (USA), conducted on Syrian families, torn apart from long and an atrocious conflict.
The war in Syria
In 1982, the Syrian government besieged the city of Hamakilling tens of thousands of its citizens. Four decades later, in 2011, the rebels pushed to the reversal of the family Assad responsible for this atrocity.
One breaks out long and bloody civil war: the repressions and bombings of the Syrian government forces multiply and at the beginning of 2012 the fights reach the capital Damascus and the second most important city in the country, Aleppo.
Russia, in 2015, sides against rebels allowing the regime of Assadwho a few months earlier was about to yield, to regain strength, also taking up Aleppo, where, after a bloody battle, the rebels capitulate at the end of 2016.
There were then 4 years of partial respite: respite because there have been no large -scale military operations, but decidedly partial for the already exhausted population, which had to undergo the impact of western sanctions.
There Russian-Ukraine war And the Israeli-Palestinian one “Distract” the allied forces of the regime, and the rebels take advantage to regain the main cities of the country, laying the Assad regime on 8 December 2024. But the conflict, as a whole, caused millions of deaths.
The study on Syrian families
Today we discover that, in addition to the dead and indelible effects on the body and the psyche of those who are alive, there is something terrible, remaining in depth in the genes of the Syrian families: the grandchildren of the women who were pregnant during the siege, grandchildren who have never experienced such violence, however bring them Signs in their genomes.
Transmitted through their mothers, this genetic imprint offers the First human test of a phenomenon previously documented only in animals: the genetic transmission of stress through multiple generations.
The idea that trauma and violence can have repercussions on future generations should help people to be more empathetic, help political decision makers pay more attention to the problem of violence – explains Connie Mulligan, main author of the new study – could even help explain some of the intergenerational cycles apparently indestructible of abuses, poverty and trauma that we see all over the world
Although our genes are not modified by life experiences, they can in fact be “reprogrammed” through a system known as epigenetics: In response to stress or other events, our cells can in fact add small chemical flags to the genes, altering their behavior. And these changes can help us to adapt to stressful environmentsalthough the effects are not well understood.
Families want their history to come told. They want their experiences to be heard
The research followed three generations of Syrian immigrants in the country: some families had experienced the attack of Hama Before fleeing Jordan, others avoided Hama, but lived the most recent civil war against the regime of Assad.
The team, in particular, has collected samples from grandmothers and pregnant mothers during the two conflicts, as well as by their children, in order to collect data on grandmothers, mothers and children they had suffered violence in different stages of development.
A third group of families instead emigrated to Jordan before 1980, avoiding the decades of violence in Syria, and, in the study, he played the role of crucial control for the comparison with the families who had experienced the stress of the civil war.
Overall, the researchers collected Champions of 138 people in 48 familiesanalyzed the DNA for epigenetic changes and searched for any relationship with the experience of families violence.
Shock results
In the grandchildren of the survivors of Hamathe researchers discovered 14 areas in the genome that had been modified in response to the violence suffered by their grandmotherswhich demonstrate how the epigenetic changes induced by stress can actually manifest themselves in future generations.
The study also discovered 21 epigenetic sites In the genomes of people who had suffered violence directly in Syria, and that the people exposed to violence while they were in the womb showed Tests of accelerated epigenetic aginga type of biological aging that can be associated with age -related diseases.
Most of these epigenetic changes showed the same scheme after exposure to violence, suggesting a type of Epigenetic response to stresswhich can not only influence the people directly exposed to stress, but also future generations.
We think our work is relevant for many forms of violence, not only for refugees. continues Mulligan – Domestic violence, sexual violence, armed violence: All different types of violence (…) We should study it. We should take it more seriously
It is not clear what effect, if present, have these epigenetic changes in the lives of people who bring them to their genomes. But some studies they found a connection between epigenetic changes induced by stress and diseases such as diabetes.
But in all this pain and this violence, there is one thing that still amazes researchers (and all of us).
In the midst of all this violence we can still celebrate their extraordinary resilience – In fact, Mulligan -) The Syrians say) are experiencing satisfactory and productive lives, have children, carry on the traditions. They persevered: that resilience and perseverance are most likely a only human trait
The study, financed by National Science Foundationwas published on Scientific Reports.
Sources: University of Florida / Scientific Reports
