Epigenetics
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"In his book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998) E. O. Wilson claimed that it was time for a cooperation of all the sciences to explore human nature. He defined human nature as a collection of epigenetic rules: the genetic patterns of mental development. Cultural phenomena, rituals etc. are products, not part of human nature. Artworks, for example are not part of human nature, but our appreciation of art is. And this art appreciation, or our fear for snakes, or incest taboo (Westermarck effect) can be studied by the methods of reductionism. Until now these phenomena were only part of psychological, sociological and anthropological studies. Wilson proposes it can be part of interdisciplinary research." --Sholem Stein |
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In biology, and specifically genetics, epigenetics is the study of changes produced in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence –hence the name epi- (Greek: επί- over, above, outer) -genetics. Examples of such changes might be DNA methylation or histone deacetylation, both of which serve to suppress gene expression without altering the sequence of the silenced genes.
See also
- B chromosome
- Epigenetic Theory
- Baldwin effect
- Centromere
- Computational epigenetics
- Dutch famine of 1944 (scientific legacy)
- Evolutionary developmental psychology
- Emergenesis
- Histone code
- Human genome
- Molecular biology
- Nutriepigenomics
- Preformationism
- Somatic epitype
- Synthetic genetic array
- Weismann barrier
- Epigenetic theories of homosexuality
