Biological inheritance is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through inheritance, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause a species to evolve.
Mechanisms of inheritance:
- Genetic or Mendelian inheritance results from DNA replication and cell division.
- Epigenetic inheritance results from, among other things, DNA modifications such as gene silencing .
- non-Mendelian inheritance includes inheritance based on cytoplasmic substituents, including mitochondria and chloroplasts.
The study of biological inheritance is called genetics, which includes also epigenetics.