- "In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable changes in cell function (known as marks) that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence."
Study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence, including DNA methylation and histone modification.
Gene expression: Epigenetics is all about the way genes are expressed or inhibited, therefore understanding the basics of gene regulation is essential.
DNA Methylation: A chemical modification of the DNA that can affect gene expression.
Histone Modification: Chemical changes in the histone proteins associated with DNA that can influence gene expression.
Chromatin Structure: The three-dimensional arrangement of DNA and proteins within the nucleus of a cell that regulates the accessibility of DNA to gene expression.
Non-coding RNAs: Small RNAs that do not code for proteins and can regulate gene expression.
Epigenetic Inheritance: The transmission of epigenetic marks from one generation to another.
Environmental Epigenetics: How external factors like diet, toxins, and stress can alter epigenetic marks and influence gene expression.
Epigenetic Therapy: The use of drugs or other interventions to modify epigenetic marks in order to treat various diseases.
Epigenetic Mechanisms of Cancer: How altered epigenetic regulation can contribute to the development of cancer.
Developmental Epigenetics: How epigenetic marks are dynamically regulated during embryonic development.
Epigenetics and Aging: The role of epigenetics in the aging process and age-related diseases.
Epigenetics and Neurobiology: How epigenetic regulation influences brain development, behavior, and neurological disorders.
Epigenetics and Stem Cells: The epigenetic mechanisms involved in the differentiation of stem cells into specialized cell types.
Epigenetics and Immunity: How epigenetic regulation of gene expression is involved in immune cell development and function.
Epigenetic Tools: The methods used to study epigenetic regulation, including sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and bisulfite sequencing.
DNA methylation: It refers to the addition of a methyl group to the DNA molecule which affects gene expression and is often heritable.
Histone modification: Histones help in the organization of DNA into chromatin structures. The modification of histones that includes acetylation, methylation, ubiquitylation and other chemical modifications can activate or silence the genes.
Non-coding RNA: DNA transcripts that do not code for protein are known as non-coding RNA. They may induce chromatin modifications or lead to mRNA degradation.
Chromatin remodeling and non-DNA elements: Chromatin remodelers deploy ATP to facilitate creating, disrupting, or relocating nucleosome patterns. Additionally, proteins and other elements may interact with chromatin all over the genome.
Imprinting: Imprinting refers to a particular form of epigenetic modification where either the maternal or the paternal allele is silenced, in a process often associated with DNA methylation.
X-chromosome inactivation: In mammalian females, one of the two X-chromosomes is transcriptionally silenced in every cell during development, in a process interpreted as an epigenetic modification.
Transgenerational epigenetics: The transmission of epigenetic traits from one generation to the next is known as transgenerational epigenetics.
Developmental timing: The precise timing of epigenetic modifications may prove important in the determination of different cell types.
Environmental epigenetics: Epigenetic alterations can be induced through exposure to various toxic substances, leading to impaired phenotypes or developmental defects.
- "The Greek prefix epi- (ἐπι- 'over, outside of, around') in epigenetics implies features that are 'on top of' or 'in addition to' the traditional genetic basis for inheritance."
- "Epigenetics most often involves changes that affect the regulation of gene expression, and that persist through cellular division."
- "Such effects on cellular and physiological phenotypic traits may result from external or environmental factors, or be part of normal development."
- "Examples of mechanisms that produce such changes are DNA methylation and histone modification."
- "Each of which alters how genes are expressed without altering the underlying DNA sequence."
- "Non-coding RNA sequences have shown to play a key role in the regulation of gene expression."
- "Gene expression can be controlled through the action of repressor proteins that attach to silencer regions of the DNA."
- "These epigenetic changes may last through cell divisions for the duration of the cell's life."
- "They may also last for multiple generations, even though they do not involve changes in the underlying DNA sequence of the organism."
- "One example of an epigenetic change in eukaryotic biology is the process of cellular differentiation."
- "During morphogenesis, totipotent stem cells become the various pluripotent cell lines of the embryo."
- "By activating some genes while inhibiting the expression of others."
- "Muscle cells, neurons, epithelium, endothelium of blood vessels, etc."
- "It can also lead to diseases such as cancer."
- "Such effects on cellular and physiological phenotypic traits may result from... or be part of normal development."
- "Epigenetics is the study of stable changes in cell function... that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence."
- "Gene expression can be controlled through the action of repressor proteins that attach to silencer regions of the DNA."
- "Epigenetics most often involves changes that affect the regulation of gene expression, and that persist through cellular division."
- "One example of an epigenetic change in eukaryotic biology is the process of cellular differentiation."