epigenetic changes causes
Epigenetics Around the Web is a weekly roundup of the latest studies and news in the field of epigenetics presented by GLP sister site the Epigenetics Literacy Project. This week features a video by scientists from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research on how epigenetic changes lead to cancer and scientists devise a way to edit the epigenome. How epigenetic changes cause cancer. There is a classical view of cancer in which the disease arises via genetic mutations. These mutations cause changes in genes that can make the protein non-functional or over active. But as I pointed out in the December 2 Epigenetics Around the Web post, epigenetic changes can also cause similar changes in a cell. Hypermethylation of a gene important for DNA repair could inhibit the proteinâs activity.
Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that are not caused by changes in the actual DNA sequence. Unlike traditional genetics which is based on changes to the DNA sequence of the genotype, the changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype of epigenetics have other causes.