Epigenetics and Heritable Control of Gene Expression

Since its discovery in the early 1940s, epigenetics has been established as a key driver of human development, health, aging, and disease, and is now a burgeoning field of research. In this article, we discover how the epigenome can affect phenotype without changing the underlying DNA sequence, the different types of epigenetic modifications, how epigenetic marks are inherited, its effects on aging and disease, and how the epigenome can be modified for therapeutic benefit.

What Is Epigenetics?

Epigenetics is the study of various heritable alterations that control gene expression without changing the DNA sequence.¹ The name epigenetics comes from the Greek prefix “epi”, which means on top of, or in addition to, genetics.² The collection of epigenetic marks in a cell or organism is known as its epigenome. 

“Epigenetics is the layer of control that sits on top of the DNA sequence itself, and it's what dictates if genes turn on or not,” explained bioengineer Brian Cosgrove, who works as a principal scientist at the epigenome editing startup Tune Therapeutics. “Another way to think about...