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

Product Information

Sibling ants, in their larval stage, become segregated into the different types based on environmental signals,' he said. The final section presents a series of chapters that apply epigenetic frameworks to the study of evolution and dysmorphology. In particular, I found it really interesting to read about diseases that were determined not by changes in genes, but changes in the features responsible for modifying expression of these genes, and how these diseases could be inherited. Limiting the definition in this way, they retain a Waddingtonian view of the importance of mechanisms acting above the gene level and apply it to the evolution of asexual taxa. It isn't, but I confidently predicted to anyone within earshot that this would finally set tongues wagging.

The first chapter by Dan Lieberman makes the case for the evolutionary significance of epigenetic mechanisms as determinants of integrated and evolvable complex phenotypes. An exhilarating exploration of an exciting new field, and a good gift for a bright biology student looking for a career choice.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. It’s the fastest moving field in modern biology, yet very little has been written on this for a general readership. A hugely compelling explanation of the very latest from the frontline of modern biology … The Epigenetics Revolution traces the thrilling path this discipline has taken over the last twenty years.

And it rightly hogged the limelight when, just over a decade ago, the human genome project delivered the complete sequence of three billion base pairs. To appreciate the detail into which Carey goes to describe these molecular events, you'll probably need to be either one of those scientists or studying to become one. The collaboration between Reinberg, Berger, and Liebig has been explosively successful—the sort of scientific story ('two epigeneticists walk into a bar and meet an entomologist') that works its way into a legend. If this were the only instance, it wouldn't be worth mentioning, but it's repeated over and over again, in phrases like "the genetic code, the fundamental blueprint" that leave the lay reader in danger of thinking this a good metaphor. In fact, the challenging parts of the book were what made reading it so satisfying, as it gave me a great sense of accomplishment once I was finished.In the course of the book, the author revisits topics in varying contexts but far from this being repetitious on the contrary it refreshes and embeds concepts in the mind of the reader and enhances its interconnection. An exhilarating exploration of an exciting new field, and a good gift for a bright biology student looking for a career choice. Without doubt this is a fascinating subject, and Carey provides plenty of examples of how epigenetics effects our development, our diseases and the way we inherit characteristics.

The theme of mechanical interactions produced by muscle activity is then continued in the final chapter by Kablar, who deals with the role that this mechanisms plays in lung, retinal, and early skeletal development. These include epigenetic inheritance, of course, but also emergent phenomena such as self-organization and variational properties of development (e.

Environmental events such as the Dutch famine have clear effects on the health outcomes of offspring.