Blum Paul, Payne Sophie
School of Biological Science, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
Department of Microbiology and Toxicology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Epigenet Insights. 2019 Jul 29;12:2516865719865280. doi: 10.1177/2516865719865280. eCollection 2019.
Changes in the phenotype of a cell or organism that are heritable but do not involve changes in DNA sequence are referred to as epigenetic. They occur primarily through the gain or loss of chemical modification of chromatin protein or DNA. Epigenetics is therefore a non-Mendelian process. The study of epigenetics in eukaryotes is expanding with advances in knowledge about the relationship between mechanism and phenotype and as a requirement for multicellularity and cancer. However, life also includes other groups or domains, notably the bacteria and archaea. The occurrence of epigenetics in these deep lineages is an emerging topic accompanied by controversy. In these non-eukaryotic organisms, epigenetics is critically important because it stimulates new evolutionary theory and refines perspective about biological action.
细胞或生物体表型的变化是可遗传的，但不涉及DNA序列的改变，这种变化被称为表观遗传。它们主要通过染色质蛋白或DNA化学修饰的获得或丧失而发生。因此，表观遗传学是一个非孟德尔过程。随着对机制与表型之间关系的认识不断进步，以及作为多细胞性和癌症研究的需要，真核生物表观遗传学的研究正在不断扩展。然而，生命还包括其他类群或域，特别是细菌和古生菌。表观遗传学在这些深层谱系中的出现是一个新兴话题，同时也伴随着争议。在这些非真核生物中，表观遗传学至关重要，因为它激发了新的进化理论，并完善了对生物作用的认识。
