Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305220, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2010 Jan 1;213(1):3-16. doi: 10.1242/jeb.019752.
Epigenetics, the transgenerational transfer of phenotypic characters without modification of gene sequence, is a burgeoning area of study in many disciplines of biology. However, the potential impact of this phenomenon on the physiology of animals is not yet broadly appreciated, in part because the phenomenon of epigenetics is not typically part of the design of physiological investigations. Still enigmatic and somewhat ill defined is the relationship between the overarching concept of epigenetics and interesting transgenerational phenomena (e.g. 'maternal/parental effects') that alter the physiological phenotype of subsequent generations. The lingering effect on subsequent generations of an initial environmental disturbance in parent animals can be profound, with genes continuing to be variously silenced or expressed without an associated change in gene sequence for many generations. Known epigenetic mechanisms involved in this phenomenon include chromatin remodeling (DNA methylation and histone modification), RNA-mediated modifications (non-coding RNA and microRNA), as well as other less well studied mechanisms such as self-sustaining loops and structural inheritance. In this review we: (1) discuss how the concepts of epigenetics and maternal effects both overlap with, and are distinct from, each other; (2) analyze examples of existing animal physiological studies based on these concepts; and (3) offer a construct by which to integrate these concepts into the design of future investigations in animal physiology.
表观遗传学是指表型特征在基因序列不改变的情况下跨代传递，它是生物学许多学科中一个新兴的研究领域。然而，这种现象对动物生理学的潜在影响尚未得到广泛认识，部分原因是表观遗传学现象通常不是生理学研究设计的一部分。仍然存在谜团的是，表观遗传学的总体概念与有趣的跨代现象（例如“母体/亲本效应”）之间的关系，这些现象改变了后代的生理表型。在亲代动物中最初的环境干扰对后代的持续影响可能是深远的，许多代后，基因继续被各种沉默或表达，而基因序列没有发生变化。涉及这种现象的已知表观遗传机制包括染色质重塑（DNA 甲基化和组蛋白修饰）、RNA 介导的修饰（非编码 RNA 和 microRNA），以及其他研究较少的机制，如自我维持循环和结构遗传。在这篇综述中，我们：（1）讨论了表观遗传学和母体效应的概念如何相互重叠和区别；（2）分析了基于这些概念的现有动物生理学研究的例子；（3）提供了一个构建，以便将这些概念整合到未来动物生理学研究的设计中。
