A tutor once taught me what epigenetics was. He confused it with the extended phenotype. In case you also have a bad tutor, read The demoiselle of X-inactivation: 50 years old and as trendy and mesmerising as ever.
Summary:
Why don't women produce twice as many X-chromosome-coded proteins as men? Something to do with Calico cats, right? These clever-sounding questions serve as a great starting point to review the recent and promising field of epigenetics, and the process of X-inactivation!
How does the cell know how many chromosomes it has? How does it turn one and only one off? The eponymous Trendy Demoiselle reveals the secret of chromosomal random inactivation herein.
Elsewhere in the field of epigenetics, we may remember the process of DNA imprinting from discussions of Prada-Willi and Angelman's syndrome. This is a very important process, giving varying phenotyes for a given genotype. The process is discussed in great detail in Genomic imprinting: recognition and marking of imprinted loci.
The processes of DNA methylation, acetylation and ubiquitination are very important in epigenetics, as well as the rearrangement and packaging of DNA within the nucleus. They were mentioned in a previous post but that was before I had realised how important the field is.
Finally, for a lighthearted bit of (ahem) learning, this genetics website lets you lick virtual rats in order to affect the epigenetics of their hippocampus!
Have fun.
Marblecake
No comments:
Post a Comment