3 ms·
There should be a better distinction made between EPIgenetics and epiGENETICS. The former is more about regulatory mechanisms (methylation, histone modification
by daemonk 8y ago
There should be a better distinction made between EPIgenetics and epiGENETICS. The former is more about regulatory mechanisms (methylation, histone modifications, polycomb-like mechanisms, etc) on top of our DNA. The latter is more about non-DNA inheritance of information across generation, which is not completely clear yet.
I think people tend to conflate these two ideas.
- asdff 8y agoI think most people don't even know that much, this isn't something that is deeply covered in most intro to bio courses in college; you have to learn a bit about how DNA is packaged and transcribed which you'd get in upper division courses. At least in the field, there is no confusion. Non-DNA inheritance is inheritance of these epigenetic regulatory states in which you've described, but the term used specifically for this is transgenerational inheritance.
- Nomentatus 8y agoWe shouldn't assume we know all mechanisms, true. I do believe I've read of RNA changes retained over generations but could be wrong about that.