Explaining inter-individual variability in phenotype: is epigenetics up to the challenge?
The hypothesis that environmental factors alter somatically heritable epigenetic marks and change long-term patterns of gene expression is an exciting possibility in human disease research. Because most common diseases, and many quantitative traits, are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, environmentally induced changes in epigenetic structures can provide a mechanistic link between genes and environment. We believe that inter-individual differences in the epigenetic modification of genes will explain a much greater fraction of inter-individual phenotypic variation than differences in genotype, alone.
Turan
Nahid
N
Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Katari
Sunita
S
Coutifaris
Christos
C
Sapienza
Carmen
C
D018899:CpG Islands; D019175:DNA Methylation; D004777:Environment; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015894:Genome, Human; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010641:Phenotype; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D012333:RNA, Messenger