Global differences in the observed causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in children are well documented and are attributed to dissimilarities in clime, race, hereditary, and ancestry. Thus, familial clustering and disparities in CKD prevalence rates across ethnic and racial groups indicate that the progression of renal disease has a strong genetic component. Mammalian studies have demonstrate...

In this article, we ask to what extent the specific characteristics of epigenetics may affect the type of questions one can ask about human society. We pay particular attention to the way epigenetic research stirs debate about normative and moral issues. Are these issues implied by scientific evidence as an outcome of research? Or do moral and normative issues also shape how research is done an...

s A1–A10 5 Basic Science – Genetics, Epigenetics, miRNAs

This article reviews the concept of Lamarckian inheritance and the use of the term epigenetics in the field of animal genetics. Epigenetics was first coined by Conrad Hal Waddington (1905-1975), who derived the term from the Aristotelian word epigenesis. There exists some controversy around the word epigenetics and its broad definition. It includes any modification of the expression of genes du...

Epigenetics refers to changes in phenotype and gene expression that occur without alterations in DNA sequence. Epigenetic modifications of the genome can be acquired de novo and are potentially heritable. This review focuses on the emerging recognition of a role for epigenetics in the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Lessons learned from the epigenetics in cancer and neurod...

All alterations in DNA function, without alterations in DNA sequence, are referred to as epigenetics. It is associated with gene expression and the expression of different phenotypes (appearance). These modifications are influenced by environmental factors and can be transferred to the progeny in cell lines and complex organisms, including livestock. The first evidence of epigenetic inheritance...

The European Commission network of excellence “EpiGeneSys” has been in operation since 2010 and the third annual meeting took place at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge from 4th to 6th December 2013. EpiGeneSys is an ambitious project studying epigenetics with an emphasis on systems biology. The marriage of these two disciplines is desirable because systems biology approaches are essentially ...

INTRODUCTION Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the Western world. Patients with bladder cancer require close monitoring, which may include frequent cystoscopy and urine cytology. Such monitoring results in significant health care cost. The application of epigenetics may allow for a risk adapted approach and more cost-effective method of monitoring. A number of epigenetic changes...

As I get older, I find myself increasingly hesitant to use the word epigenetics because I worry about employing a term that is so liable to engender confusion and disagreement. Many biologists define epigenetics in a narrow sense solely as heritable changes in the phenotype that derive from molecular mechanisms other than sequence changes in the genotype (the classic example being methylation)....

Obesity can have multifactorial causes that may change with development and are not simply attributable to one's genetic constitution. To date, expensive and laborious genome-wide association studies have only ascribed a small contribution of genetic variants to obesity. The emergence of the field of epigenetics now offers a new paradigm with which to study excess fat mass. Currently, however, ...