Ptashne Mark
Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021, USA.
Curr Biol. 2007 Apr 3;17(7):R233-6. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.02.030.
Over the past few years we have seen an odd change, or extension, in the use of the word 'epigenetic' when describing matters of gene regulation in eukaryotes. Although it may generally be that it is not worth arguing over definitions, this is true only insofar as the participants in the discussion know what each other means. I believe the altered use of the term carries baggage from the standard definition that can have misleading implications. Here I wish to probe our use of language in this way, and to show how such a discussion leads to some more general considerations concerning gene regulation.
在过去几年中，我们看到在描述真核生物基因调控问题时，“表观遗传的”这个词的使用出现了一种奇怪的变化，或者说是扩展。虽然一般来说，为定义争论可能不值得，但只有在讨论的参与者彼此明白对方意思的情况下才是如此。我认为该术语用法的改变带有标准定义中的包袱，可能会产生误导性影响。在此，我希望以这种方式探究我们的语言使用情况，并展示这样的讨论会如何引发一些关于基因调控的更普遍的思考。
