Abstract
While phenotypic variation such as disease vulnerability has traditionally been viewed as being determined by the interaction between genes and the environment, it is now clear that this is over-simplistic. Developmental plasticity describes the phenomenon whereby development of the phenotype from a given genotype is influenced by developmental experiences, and phenotypic variation in turn influences how the individual interacts with its mature environment, thus affecting disease risk. It is now recognized that developmental plasticity is underpinned by epigenetic processes, which are environmentally-induced changes in the patterns and regulation of gene expression brought about by a set of modifications in DNA and DNA-associated molecules, without changes in the base sequence. Epigenetic processes are phylogenetically old, and the mechanisms involved modulate both gene dosage and the conditions under which genes are expressed. Developmental plasticity is but one of several processes which are effectuated by epigenetic mechanisms; in mammals other processes include transposon silencing, cell differentiation, X-inactivation in females and genomic imprinting.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Kouzarides T (2007) Chromatin modifications and their function. Cell 128:693–705
Clayton AL, Hazzalin CA, Mahadevan LC (2006) Enhanced histone acetylation and transcription: a dynamic perspective. Mol Cell 23:289–296
Amaral PP, Mattick JS (2008) Noncoding RNA in development. Mamm Genome 19:454–492
Brodersen P, Sakvarelidze-Achard L, Bruun-Rasmussen M et al (2008) Widespread translational inhibition by plant miRNAs and siRNAs. Science 320:1185–1190
Edwards CA, Ferguson-Smith AC (2007) Mechanisms regulating imprinted genes in clusters. Curr Opin Cell Biol 19:281–289
Gluckman PD, Hanson MA, Buklijas T (2010) A conceptual framework for the developmental origins of health and disease. J Dev Orig Health Dis 1:6–18
Gluckman PD, Hanson MA, Cooper C, Thornburg K (2008) Effect of in utero and early-life conditions on adult health and disease. N Engl J Med 359:61–73
Godfrey KM, Sheppard A, Gluckman PD et al (2011) Epigenetic promoter methylation at birth predicts child’s later adiposity. Diabetes 60:1528–1534
Gurrieri F, Accadia M (2009) Genetic imprinting: The paradigm of Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes. Endocr Dev 14:20–28
Horike S, Cai S, Miyano M et al (2005) Loss of silent-chromatin looping and impaired imprinting of DLX5 in Rett syndrome. Nat Genet 37:31–40
Vickers MH, Gluckman PD, Coveny AH et al (2005) Neonatal leptin treatment reverses developmental programming. Endocrinology 146:4211–4216
Champagne FA, Curley JP (2009) Epigenetic mechanisms mediating the long-term effects of maternal care on development. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 33:593–600
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Italia
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Low, F.M., Tng, E., Gluckman, P.D. (2012). Epigenetic Mechanisms. In: Buonocore, G., Bracci, R., Weindling, M. (eds) Neonatology. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-1405-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-1405-3_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Milano
Print ISBN: 978-88-470-1404-6
Online ISBN: 978-88-470-1405-3
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)