The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance

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The first two chapters approach the issue of cellular differentiation by explaining the work of John Gurdon and the concept of a genetic “switch” rather than a loss of unneeded material. This theme is continued in the next chapter by Foster and Wurd, who address phenotypic plasticity in the threespine stickleback, arguing for an evolutionary role for genetic assimilation ( "Baldwin effect") in radiations of the threespine stickleback. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

One particularly excellent chapter explains epigenetic change through the body of steroid-addled baseball player José Canseco, from his brain to his testicles.This open access textbook leads the reader from basic concepts of chromatin structure and function and RNA mechanisms to the understanding of epigenetics, imprinting, regeneration and reprogramming.

Carey’s experience of the biotechnology industry shows in her concluding remarks on the pros and cons of our growing understanding of epigenetics for drug discovery, and on understanding the impact of diet and environment on disease. Epigenetics falls broadly within the area of systems biology premised on the concept that system-level phenomena are essential as explanatory factors in biology. The analogy that DNA is a script to be interpreted is a particularly articulate explanation for novice readers. Carey illustrates this section with two very different disease states; psychiatric illness and cancer. Sometimes, when you read about biology, you could be forgiven for thinking that those three letters explain everything.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). Genes don't just issue instructions: they respond to messages coming from other genes, from hormones and from nutritional cues and learning. The first chapter in this section, by McEachern and Lloyd, deals with genomic imprinting, which is one of the key concepts in the modern study of epigenetics.