Talk:Epigenetics

Please place new discussions at the bottom of the talk page.

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Epigenetics article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find medical sources: Source guidelines · PubMed · Cochrane · DOAJ · Gale · OpenMD · ScienceDirect · Springer · Trip · Wiley · TWL

Archives: 1, 2, 3: 3 months

Molecular Biology: Genetics / MCB

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Molecular Biology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Molecular Biology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Molecular BiologyWikipedia:WikiProject Molecular BiologyTemplate:WikiProject Molecular BiologyMolecular Biology articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.
	This article is supported by the Genetics task force (assessed as Top-importance).
	This article is supported by the Molecular and Cell Biology task force (assessed as Top-importance).

Medicine: Genetics Mid‑importance

	Medicine portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Medicine, which recommends that medicine-related articles follow the Manual of Style for medicine-related articles and that biomedical information in any article use high-quality medical sources. Please visit the project page for details or ask questions at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Medicine.MedicineWikipedia:WikiProject MedicineTemplate:WikiProject Medicinemedicine articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the Medical genetics task force (assessed as High-importance).

Pharmacology Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Pharmacology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Pharmacology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PharmacologyWikipedia:WikiProject PharmacologyTemplate:WikiProject Pharmacologypharmacology articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Environment Mid‑importance

	Environment portal This environment-related article is part of the WikiProject Environment to improve Wikipedia's coverage of the environment. The aim is to write neutral and well-referenced articles on environment-related topics, as well as to ensure that environment articles are properly categorized. Read Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ and leave any messages at the project talk page.EnvironmentWikipedia:WikiProject EnvironmentTemplate:WikiProject EnvironmentEnvironment articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Someone's revert-warring

Yo

I wrote this twice now in the addiction section and before I could log a talk page someone reverted it back to a misleading interpretation of the results, the policy on revert-wars is clear, if you don't engage here, I'll ask for arbitration to confirm my edits:

"There is some correlational evidence that the use of Cannabis by mothers during - and also by both parents before - pregnancy could lead to epigenetic alterations in neonates that are sometimes associated with an increased risk of various psychiatric classifications later in life, though this is not confirmed with long-term study of the infants in question, nor are these alterations exclusively associated with negative outcomes. Of note in this research is the lack of diagnostic pathology and failure to record existing mental health histories of parents independent of substance use."

I always sign my name and stamp it talonx89.12.68.91 (talk) 22:51, 17 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You sign an edit by logging in to use a user name, then the system logs it for you. This revert was justified because the content is speculative, excessive opinion and synthesis, WP:SYNTH, and the sources are not rigorous reviews per WP:SCIRS. Zefr (talk) 23:10, 17 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

89.12.68.91 (talk, if you quote your source directly, it's more likely that no one will object. BooleanQuackery (talk) 08:10, 31 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Comparative Developmental Biology

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 9 January 2023 and 21 April 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Najjar123 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: JamaalBurks, Kayliah01, Najjar123, Syeda22af.

— Assignment last updated by Najjar123 (talk) 19:04, 10 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Defining epigenetics

We have an extensive discussion in this article about the meaning of the word "epigenetics." Although we could quibble about various definitions, the general consensus is that the word refers to reversible histone and DNA modifications. That's the view that's reflected in the figure at the top of the page.

It's not a good idea to change the lead in order to insert a different definition. We need to agree on how we define epigenetics in this article.

Nobody has presented credible evidence for the inheritance of histone modifications across multiple generations and there is considerable debate about whether epigenetic DNA methylations are truly heritable in the sense that they might play a role in evolution. We are not doing our readers any favors by presenting only one side of this story.

The main controversy in the field of epigenetics is whether histone and DNA markers are an independent cause of gene regulation or merely a consequence of transcription factor binding. The idea that gene regulation in complex eukaryotes is mostly due to transcription factors recognizing specific DNA sequences, as in bacteria, is known as the recruitment model and it conflicts with many descriptions of epigenetics in the scientific literature and in the popular press. You may disagree with Ptashne's interpretation but that's not the point. We should not be writing this article as though the common popular beliefs were proven facts.

Here's an old blog post of mine that generated a great deal of discussion. I'm not posting it here as an authoritative definition of epigenetics - it's sole purpose is to alert people to the controversy over how to define the word.

What the heck is epigenetics? https://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2017/01/what-heck-is-epigenetics.html Genome42

(talk) 23:08, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Nobody has presented credible evidence for the inheritance of histone modifications across multiple generations and there is considerable debate about whether epigenetic DNA methylations are truly heritable in the sense that they might play a role in evolution. We are not doing our readers any favors by presenting only one side of this story.

Agree with this. It's unfortunate that the article doesn't have more expert attention. Zenomonoz (talk) 09:18, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Comparative Developmental Biology

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 8 January 2024 and 19 April 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Alisha123Ali (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Vjj18 (talk) 15:37, 5 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Senior Seminar

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 9 January 2024 and 10 June 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: TAA999.

— Assignment last updated by TAA999 (talk) 17:44, 20 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Some formal suggestions

Chapter "mechanisms": "reciprocal relationship between DNA methylation and histone lysine methylation" seems in fact not to be reciprocal but "correlation between ...."

Chapter "RNA methylation": RNA methylation of adenosine to N6-methyladenosine

Chapter "histone modifications": gene transcription instead of transcriptional gene expression

Chapter "prions": Which yeast is referred to in paragraph 2 if not S. cerevisiae?

Chapter "molecular basis": DNA sequence instead of genetic code sequence

Chapter "DNA damage": V. myrtillus, not myrtillius !

Chapter "repair of oxidative...": 6. paragraph: add "DNA" to DNA polymerase

Chapter "memory": "EGR1 binds to DNA" is repeated within 5. paragraph; is the given sequence the promoter/enhancer or part of those?

Chapter "other and general": add "see above" after "memory"; add "those" to "events, including those during embryonic..."; cancel "and to" in "brain evolution in humans"

Chapter "development": close bracket after "histones [158]"; add "of mice" (?) after "dietary supplementation"; "rather than DNA sequence changes" instead of "rather than in DNA itself"

Chapter "UBASH3B": cancel "and" in "as well as BMI"

cheers, Wolfgang WolfGreg9 (talk) 20:52, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If you are able to make the changes it would be good. Zenomonoz (talk) 09:19, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I never did that. What do I have to do to become an editor?

Wolfgang WolfGreg9 (talk) 14:05, 29 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]