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Methilation isn't a mutation. It's epigenetics - (potentially) persistent / heritable changes in phenotype (expressed genes) outside of genetic code (DNA). It'
by tomp 5y ago
Methilation isn't a mutation. It's epigenetics - (potentially) persistent / heritable changes in phenotype (expressed genes) outside of genetic code (DNA).
It's used for many things, e.g. turning on/off specific genes in somatic cells, repairing DNA (when DNA is copied, the old strand is methilated; so you know how to fix any differences between old and new strand), and more recently, for measuring aging (Horvath epigenetic clock).
- pvaldes 5y agoWe can substitute a mutation as a synonym for modification here then. It doesn't matter and would be still more clear. We could say that the string of letters is not modified but the letters in the DNA string are "in cursive" now, so when we read the text we understand a different thing.