Essay on Epigenetics Study Guide

Submitted By Obadi-Ahmed
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Epigenetics = the study of reversible heritable changes in phenotype that are not based on changes in genotype (no affect on DNA)
- modifications of GENE ACTIVITY that are NOT based on changes in DNA sequence
Epigeneitcs is more of a foundation of what is going to happen, who will be exposed, transcribed & such. It is what prepares the way.
Recent studies have focused on the problems arising in the children of men who either are obese or have suffered starvation. It is known that there is a correlation between the pattern of epigenetic marks (mostly DNA methylations) on the insulin-de- pendent growth factor gene IGF2 and the body mass index of the father, with hypomethylation of this gene being observed in newborns arising from couples in which the father is obese
Transfer RNAs (tRNAs), for example, spend their days transporting amino acids to the ribosomes for incorporation into growing polypeptides, and the ribosome itself is composed largely of ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
A small nuclear RNA (snRNA) - are involved in splicing by making splicesomes.
RNA Polymerase I – primarily transcribes rRnas
RNA Polymerase II – primarily transcribes heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA) that becomes mRNAs.
RNA Polyemrase III – transcribes tRNA and some snRNA.

Baldwin effect – ability to learn new behaviors that gives it advantage will affect its evolution through reproductive success.
- e.g – A species threatened by a predator, and there is a behavior that makes it difficult for the predator to kill the species. Individuals who learn the behavior quickly will have an advantage that will be naturally selected for.
Genetic assimilation is a process by which a phenotype originally produced in response to an environmental condition, such as exposure to a teratogen, later becomes genetically encoded via artificial selection or natural selection

Fox genes – Heritable genes of Sound and Language

Chromatin – the complex of both classes of protein with the nuclear DNA of eukaryotic cells.

Histones – are basic proteins that associate with DNA in DNA packaging.

DNA is tightly packed in the nucleus of every cell. DNA wraps around special proteins called histones, which form loops of DNA called nucleosomes. These nucleosomes coil and stack together to form fibers called chromatin. Chromatin in turn forms larger loops and coils to form chromosomes.
The fundamental unit of chromatin, the nucleosome core particle (NCP) or nucleosome, organizes 147 base pairs (bp) of DNA in a 1.7 left-handed super- helical turn around an octamer of four core histones: H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 .
A histone fold is a structurally conserved motif found near the C-terminus in every core histone sequence in a histone octamer responsible for the binding of histones into heterodimers.
The four core histone proteins all share the structural domain known as the histone fold

Histone chaperones are a group of acidic proteins that bind histones and participate in chromatin assembly and disassembly during transcription and DNA replication

The Promoter (regulatory region) is a specialized region of DNA sequence that is distinct from the arrangement of DNA base pairs that encodes the sequence of amino acids needed to make the gene product.
The combined assembly of proteins plus the RNA polymerase is known as the pre-initiation complex.
Many promoters have a sequence called the TATA box situated about 30–50 base pairs away from the start site, it serves to recruit a specific TATA box binding protein (TBP) that is part of the complex of proteins generally referred to as transcription factor IID (TFIID)
The TATA box and TFIID becomes stabilized by the binding of transcription factor IIA (TFIIA), which seems to encourage other transcription factors to join in. Then TFIIH and TFIIB join the protein complex and now RNA polymerase II comes and attaches to the complex along with TFIIE and TFIIF. The 
C-terminal domain (CTD) 
is bound by TFIID. Then the CTD is phosphorylated by TFIIH and