There is a significant branch of microbiology that studies the 3D structure of chromosomes. Epigenetics is the study of how gene expression (rather than compos

There is a significant branch of microbiology that studies the 3D structure of chromosomes. Epigenetics is the study of how gene expression (rather than composition) affects a phenotype. There is a strong influence of structure, telomeres, centromeres, and expression modifiers that work at a physical level. It will certainly be a major component of functional life. It took decades after genetics were established for the scientific community to accept epigenetics as a valid influence and avenue of study (due to both a lack of methods to accurately study these aspects of an organism and scientific inertia). edit: pedantics.