Epigenetics for ecotoxicologists

A New Slant on Old Ideas Do genes define your destiny?The field of epigenetics examines how genes and the environment interact to form the basis of heredity and comes up with some surprising findings.We often think of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as the sole physical basis for heredity, the genetic code that determines everything from eye and hair color to specific personality traits.The growing field of epigenetics suggests that this traditional paradigm is an oversimplification.Epigenetics is the study of factors that are heritable, but which occur by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA code itself.C.H. Waddington first used the term epigenetics in the early 1940s to describe ''the interactions of genes with their environment, which bring the phenotype into being.''Epigenetic marks are susceptible to environmental influencesboth chemical and nonchemical-and can be inherited in ways that may seem counterintuitive (see sidebar, Expanding Ideas About Biological Inheritance).Effects of early life experiences, such as parental care or nutrition, can show up later in life and even be passed on to future generations.This emerging area of research has interesting and important implications for the field of ecotoxicology-from basic science to international policy.In classic genetics, genetic material is in the form of DNA and encodes all of the information necessary for life.