Epigenetics

About this book

This is an exciting and stimulating volume which uses the extensive knowledge of basic transcriptional control as a foundation to explore the more complex and interesting levels at which genes can be regulated. Areas discussed in detail include the role of chromosomal domains in gene silencing, the parameters that determine the activity of transgenes in plants and animals, the host defence mechanisms that protect organisms from the danger of integrating foreign DNA into their chromosome, and the importance of genomic imprinting in development and human disease.

Contents

Gene silencing by methyl-Cpg-binding proteins; DNA methylation, the nucleosome and the inheritance of chromatin structure; Pcg/Trx-induced heritable chromatin states; variegation of position; an epigenetic mechanism regulates silencing, directionality and recombination suppression in fission yeast; nuclear organization and silencing - the comings and goings of sirs; regulation of the maize suppressor (mutator transposon; co-suppression of homologous genes in plants and epigenetic switches in gene expression; homology-dependent gene silencing in transgenic plants; cytosine methylation and the control of intragenomic parasites; structure and function of the mammalian X chromosome inactivation centre; methylation dynamics, epigenetic fidelity and X chromosome structure; gene imprinting in the mouse; making sense of imprinting the mouse and human IGF2R locus; imprinted genes in the Prader-Willi deletion region.

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