Inherited fault: scars, sin, and what crosses over

Two traditions say the same unsettling thing: you inherit a burden you never chose. Biology calls it epigenetics. A parent's stress leaves marks near brain-development genes that cross generations. Theology calls it original sin, Augustine's 'seminal nature... vitiated by sin,' propagated to every child. What does each mean by an inherited fault, and do their accounts of how it passes line up?

open-question·epigenetics·theology