Carrying out research in genetics and genomics and communicating about them would not be possible without metaphors such as "information," "code," "letter" or "book." Genetic and genomic metaphors have remained relatively stable for a long time but are now beginning to shift in the context of synthetic biology and epigenetics. This article charts the emergence of metaphors in the context of epi...

Epigenetics is one of the most rapidly expanding fields in biomedical research, and the popularity of the high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) highlights the accelerating speed of epigenomics discovery over the past decade. Epigenetics studies the heritable phenotypes resulting from chromatin changes but without alteration on DNA sequence. Epigenetic factors and their interactive ne...

Epigenetic regulation of gene activity is of immense importance in maintaining normal and dynamic transcription profiles of practically all cells in our body. In the meantime, cells metabolize nutrients to sustain through different tasks and challenges of life. Both metabolism and gene activity respond to changes in environment. By assessing the relative abundance of certain key compounds centr...

The observation that Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with similar and even identical genetic backgrounds often present with heterogeneous pathologies has prompted the hypothesis that epigenetics may contribute to AD. While the study of epigenetics encompasses a variety of modifications including histone modifications and non-coding RNAs, much of the research on how epigenetics might impact AD...

Environment has a critical role in the natural selection process for Darwinian evolution. The primary molecular component currently considered for neo-Darwinian evolution involves genetic alterations and random mutations that generate the phenotypic variation required for natural selection to act. The vast majority of environmental factors cannot directly alter DNA sequence. Epigenetic mechanis...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) constitutes a major public health threat worldwide, accounting for 17.3 million deaths annually. Heart disease and stroke account for the majority of healthcare costs in the developed world. While much has been accomplished in understanding the pathophysiology, molecular biology and genetics underlying the diagnosis and treatment of CVD, we know less about the role ...

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with abiotic and biotic components of their surroundings. Whereas many and perhaps most of the encounters pass with transient changes at the molecular and metabolic levels, some have a profound impact on the phenotypic appearance of an organism and, more importantly, on the phenotypic appearance of their progeny. Since genetic changes are rare and random in nature, their influence on species or...