Life sciences has gone through a relatively few number of paradigm shifts during its existence, and none has caused us to redefine previously accepted principles. Mendel developed the concept of a gene, Darwin conjugated Mendellian genetics and natural observations to develop the natural selection explanation for evolution, and Watson and Crick worked out the structure and function of DNA, the chemical structure of the gene. The subsequent elucidation of the genetic code completed what has been come to be called the central dogma of molecular biology . The central dogma states that DNA is transcribed to messenger RNA, mRNA is translated into a sequence of amino acids, and these resulting proteins are the enzymatic and structural work effectors of the cell. Inherent in the central dogma's view of life sciences is that information flows in one direction. That is to say, information is stored in DNA and as such it controls downstream function of proteins via messenger RNA.
More recently, the information flow aspect of this model has been broken down quite a bit. That is to say, regulation of this process is quite a bit more complicated, and in fact information flows in both directions. The term epigenetics refers to changes associated with the gene expression process that occur in the genetic material of the cell. These changes are heritable across mitosis or cell division, and play an important role in differentiation and cell fate determination.
As such, epigenetics has become a critical foundational science beyond the laboratory. Developmental disorders as well as cancer progression are increasingly described and studied as a functional transition from normal to pathological epigenetic states in a cells DNA.
This blog is devoted to normal and pathological epigenetics news and theories.
