Epigenetics “above or over genetics” is the term used for processes that result in modifications which are stably inherited through cell generations, without changing underlying DNA sequence of cell. These include methylation, Post-translational histone modification and non-coding RNAs. Over last two decades, interest field epigenetics has grown manifold because realization its involvement key ...

A recent field known as epigenetics has shown that the environment can impact gene expression through chemical modifications, such as methylation, of genes. This provides a mechanism for acclimation to be inherited across mitotic and meiotic generations, thus more stable than physiological acclimation, and permits more reversible adaptation at time scales shorter than natural selection. We exam...

The Holocaust left its visible and invisible marks not only on the survivors, but also on their children. Instead of numbers tattooed on their forearms, however, they may have been marked epigenetically with a chemical coating upon their chromosomes, which would represent a kind of biological memory of what the parents experienced. as a result, some suffer from a general vulnerability to stress...

Genetics alone cannot explain disease: in fact, people sharing the same DNA sequence (monozygotic twins) often present different levels of disease penetrance. The term epigenetics partially explains this phenomenon. Originally introduced to name the causal interactions between genes and their products, bringing the phenotype into being, it was subsequently used to define the heritable gene expr...

We discuss the changing use of epigenetics, a term coined by Conrad Waddington in the 1940s, and how the epigenetic approach to development differs from the genetic approach. Originally, epigenetics referred to the study of the way genes and their products bring the phenotype into being. Today, it is primarily concerned with the mechanisms through which cells become committed to a particular fo...

The pathophysiology of obesity is extremely complex and is associated with extensive gene expression changes in tissues throughout the body. This situation, combined with the fact that all gene expression changes are thought to have associated epigenetic changes, means that the links between obesity and epigenetics will undoubtedly be vast. Much progress in identifying epigenetic changes induce...