Crews David, Gore Andrea C
Section of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712 USA ; Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712 USA.
F1000 Biol Rep. 2012;4:18. doi: 10.3410/B4-18. Epub 2012 Sep 5.
Epigenetics is a perspective, not a set of techniques. Molecular biology and genetics are the dominant disciplines in biology today, but practitioners of these fields have only recently 'rediscovered' the importance of the environment. This has led to increasing research into molecular epigenetics and the interface between the environment and gene regulation. Beyond the study of epigenetic mechanisms at the level of the gene, more investigation of epigenetic outcomes at the level of both the individual organism and the evolution of the population is needed.
表观遗传学是一种观点，而非一套技术。分子生物学和遗传学是当今生物学领域的主导学科，但这些领域的从业者直到最近才“重新发现”环境的重要性。这导致了对分子表观遗传学以及环境与基因调控之间界面的研究不断增加。除了在基因层面研究表观遗传机制外，还需要在个体生物体层面和种群进化层面更多地研究表观遗传结果。
