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  • Current: Nov 11, 2020

Epigenetics

Heritable changes that are not due to alterations in DNA sequence (or a research field about such changes).

Mechanisms of epigenetic changes include histone modification, DNA methylation, and chromatin remodeling, many of which can be passed to descendant cells or individuals.

Epigenetics



Definitions in the literature

  • Epigenetics – Phenomena due to alterations in DNA that do not include changes in the base sequence; often affect the way in which DNA sequences are expressed. Such alterations are often stable and heritable in the sense that they are passed to descendant cells or individuals [1].
  • Epigenetics – ...the mechanisms by which changes in phenotype are maintained in a cell, or passed to other cells or future generations, without a change in the base sequence of DNA [1].
  • Epigenetic – Describing heritable changes that are not the result of changes in DNA sequence [2].