To discuss:
How heredity and health are affected not only by genetic changes but also by epigenetic changes.
Introduction:
Heredity is passed from one generation to the next through both genetic and non-genetic (epigenetic) inheritance. There are several mechanisms that alter the expression of a gene apart from a mutation. Alternation of a gene expression without changing the DNA bases is known as epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and miRNA expression. DNA methylation (addition of a methyl group to cytosine bases of DNA sequence) inhibits gene expression, which is a normal biological process involved in human development. All the genes are not active in every cell; only few genes are active and others are inhibited by DNA methylation and other mechanisms based on the cell types (example, embryonic cells).
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