The (dual) origin of epigenetics
The (dual) origin of epigenetics
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DOI:
10.1101/sqb.2004.69.67
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发表时间:
2004-01-01
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影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
Haig, D
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
Haig, D
Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, Volume LXIX.© 2004 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 0-87969-729-6/04. 67 of what determines the replicable specificity of differentiated tissues.” Thus, epigenetics was concerned with the processes by which a constant genotype gave rise to differentiated cell types and tissues, and perturbations of which could give rise to cancer. Berry and Searle (1963) initiated an association of “epigenetics” with the study of variation in skeletal development. They used epigenetic “in Waddington’s sense, to emphasize the developmental origin of the discontinuities being studied, with genetic factors determining the main features of the ‘epigenetic landscape’but environmental forces influencing the final outcome.” Their study of the rodent skeleton was later extended to a study of epigenetic variation in the human cranium (Berry and Berry 1967). Herring’s (1993) definition of epigenetics (quoted in the first paragraph of this paper) is a direct descendant of this usage.The second 20th-century derivation of “epigenetics” can be traced to Nanney (1958). At a conference in Gifsur-Yvette on Extrachromosomal Heredity (March 1958), Nanney contrasted what he called genetic and paragenetic systems. However, Pontecorvo told Nanney of the criticism he had received from a professor of Greek for Pontecorvo’s use of the term parasexuality (Ephrussi 1958). By the time the published version of Nanney’s remarks appeared in July 1958, Nanney had substituted epigenetic for paragenetic and added references to Waddington (Nanney 1958). This history indicates that Nanney’s concept of what he came to call epigenetic control systems was independent of Waddington’s prior use of epigenetics, but that Nanney considered their two usages to be compatible.