If genetics is the official language of life, epigenetics is the vernacular: knowing which words to use in a situation, how often to use them, and which words to leave out entirely.
Slightly less in brief:
The genome – the DNA that holds all the instructions for building an organism – doesn’t actually do anything. Proteins do most of the work in a cell. Proteins of all shapes and sizes, along with a few other types of molecule, are the cellular machinery.
The genome is just a blueprint for this machinery. Many short sections of the genome – the genes – describe how to build proteins. Certain proteins read genes and make temporary copies, which other bits of cellular machinery then use to build new proteins.
So which genes get read?
Slightly less in brief:
The genome – the DNA that holds all the instructions for building an organism – doesn’t actually do anything. Proteins do most of the work in a cell. Proteins of all shapes and sizes, along with a few other types of molecule, are the cellular machinery.
The genome is just a blueprint for this machinery. Many short sections of the genome – the genes – describe how to build proteins. Certain proteins read genes and make temporary copies, which other bits of cellular machinery then use to build new proteins.
So which genes get read?
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