what are/is epigenetics?
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(Sorry if some of the terminology is not spelled 100 % correctly, it’s difficult to keep them apart when learned in another language with almost the same spelling) There is two states your DNA can be in in each nucleus: heterochromatine and euchromatine, with euchromatine being the active “unloosened” state and heterochromatine being more tightly packed by the surrounding histone (it cannot be read in this state).
Epigenetics describes the connection between these states and environmental factors, so basically what “activates” and “deactivates” your DNA for reading so that the right things are active at the right time and not everything performs at 100 % constantly
Some genes aren’t always active. Epigenetics is the study of what conditions can activate or deactivate expression of a gene.
When people hear about “genes” and “genetic code” they tend to think of it like a computer program that runs every line sequentially, or a regular old book that you read every page front to back.
However, there are actually feedback mechanisms that can alter how the book is read much like a “choose your own adventure” novel. This is what epigenetics is about, it is about the different kinds of feedback that can push your story down different paths despite starting from the same printed book.
When looking at genetics, there are a bunch of things that cannot be explained through DNA. For example, every cell in your body has the same DNA, but they take many different forms. There are muscle cells, skin cells, neurons, etc. Even more, many insects can develop totally different body shapes depending on environmental conditions. Think worker, warrior and queen ants. They all have (with maybe a few mutations) the same DNA but vastly different outcomes.
The processes that lead to a single version of DNA producing different results are called epigenetics.
Your DNA is like the giant book of procedures to deal with different situations in a natural disaster. If power substations are taken out, you have a plan to get power restored to hospitals first and maybe deliver generators to a central location. If there is massive flooding you might mobilize a bunch of helicopters and boats to rescue people. Etc.
Epigenetics is basically how life deals with different situations while using the same basic blueprint (your genome). You do not use all of the genes your DNA encodes for. Epigenetics will determine which genes are active and how active they are. It’s incredibly complex and can be very subtle. We’ve barely scratched the surface on epigenetics and there’s still a lot we don’t know.
Epigenetics can be very fine-tuned. Different modifications lead to varying strengths of signals. This means the body can also adjust and fine-tune how much of a gene product is needed. It is another layer in our understanding of how genetic regulation works.
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