Evolution Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Epigenetics === {{further|Epigenetics}} Some heritable changes cannot be explained by changes to the sequence of [[nucleotide]]s in the DNA. These phenomena are classed as epigenetic inheritance systems.<ref name="Jablonka09">{{cite journal |last1=Jablonka |first1=Eva |last2=Raz |first2=Gal |date=June 2009 |title=Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance: Prevalence, Mechanisms, and Implications for the Study of Heredity and Evolution |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=131β176 |doi=10.1086/598822 |issn=0033-5770 |pmid=19606595 |url=http://compgen.unc.edu/wiki/images/d/df/JablonkaQtrRevBio2009.pdf |citeseerx=10.1.1.617.6333 |s2cid=7233550 |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=15 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715111243/http://compgen.unc.edu/wiki/images/d/df/JablonkaQtrRevBio2009.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[DNA methylation]] marking [[chromatin]], self-sustaining metabolic loops, gene silencing by [[RNA interference]] and the three-dimensional [[Protein structure|conformation]] of [[protein]]s (such as [[prion]]s) are areas where epigenetic inheritance systems have been discovered at the organismic level.<ref name="Bossdorf10">{{cite journal |last1=Bossdorf |first1=Oliver |last2=Arcuri |first2=Davide |last3=Richards |first3=Christina L. |last4=Pigliucci |first4=Massimo |s2cid=15763479 |author-link4=Massimo Pigliucci |date=May 2010 |title=Experimental alteration of DNA methylation affects the phenotypic plasticity of ecologically relevant traits in ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' |journal=Evolutionary Ecology |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=541β553 |doi=10.1007/s10682-010-9372-7 |bibcode=2010EvEco..24..541B |issn=0269-7653 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/318722/files/10682_2010_Article_9372.pdf |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=5 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605101316/http://doc.rero.ch/record/318722/files/10682_2010_Article_9372.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Developmental biologists suggest that complex interactions in [[gene regulatory network|genetic networks]] and communication among cells can lead to heritable variations that may underlay some of the mechanics in [[developmental plasticity]] and [[Canalisation (genetics)|canalisation]].<ref name="Jablonka02">{{cite journal |last1=Jablonka |first1=Eva |last2=Lamb |first2=Marion J. |date=December 2002 |title=The Changing Concept of Epigenetics |journal=[[Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences]] |volume=981 |issue=1 |pages=82β96 |bibcode=2002NYASA.981...82J |doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.2002.tb04913.x |issn=0077-8923 |pmid=12547675|s2cid=12561900 }}</ref> Heritability may also occur at even larger scales. For example, ecological inheritance through the process of [[niche construction]] is defined by the regular and repeated activities of organisms in their environment. This generates a legacy of effects that modify and feed back into the selection regime of subsequent generations.<ref name="Laland06">{{cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=Kevin N. |last2=Sterelny |first2=Kim |author-link2=Kim Sterelny |date=September 2006 |title=Perspective: Seven Reasons (Not) to Neglect Niche Construction |journal=[[Evolution (journal)|Evolution]] |volume=60 |issue=9 |pages=1751β1762 |doi=10.1111/j.0014-3820.2006.tb00520.x |pmid=17089961 |s2cid=22997236 |issn=0014-3820|doi-access=free }}</ref> Other examples of heritability in evolution that are not under the direct control of genes include the inheritance of cultural traits and [[symbiogenesis]].<ref name="Chapman98">{{cite journal|last1=Chapman |first1=Michael J. |last2=Margulis |first2=Lynn |author-link2=Lynn Margulis |date=December 1998 |title=Morphogenesis by symbiogenesis |url=http://www.im.microbios.org/04december98/14%20Chapman.pdf |journal=[[International Microbiology]] |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=319β326 |issn=1139-6709 |pmid=10943381 |access-date=9 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823062546/http://www.im.microbios.org/04december98/14%20Chapman.pdf |archive-date=23 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="Wilson07">{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=David Sloan |author-link1=David Sloan Wilson |last2=Wilson |first2=Edward O. |author-link2=E. O. Wilson |date=December 2007 |title=Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology |url=http://evolution.binghamton.edu/dswilson/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Rethinking-sociobiology.pdf |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=327β348 |doi=10.1086/522809 |issn=0033-5770 |pmid=18217526 |s2cid=37774648 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511235639/http://evolution.binghamton.edu/dswilson/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Rethinking-sociobiology.pdf |archive-date=11 May 2011}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page