Talk:Epigenetics

Someone's revert-warring
Yo

I wrote this twice now in the addiction section and before I could log a talk page someone reverted it back to a misleading interpretation of the results, the policy on revert-wars is clear, if you don't engage here, I'll ask for arbitration to confirm my edits:

"There is some correlational evidence that the use of Cannabis by mothers during - and also by both parents before - pregnancy could lead to epigenetic alterations in neonates that are sometimes associated with an increased risk of various psychiatric classifications later in life, though this is not confirmed with long-term study of the infants in question, nor are these alterations exclusively associated with negative outcomes. Of note in this research is the lack of diagnostic pathology and failure to record existing mental health histories of parents independent of substance use."

I always sign my name and stamp it talonx89.12.68.91 (talk) 22:51, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
 * You sign an edit by logging in to use a user name, then the system logs it for you. This revert was justified because the content is speculative, excessive opinion and synthesis, WP:SYNTH, and the sources are not rigorous reviews per WP:SCIRS. Zefr (talk) 23:10, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
 * 89.12.68.91 (talk, if you quote your source directly, it's more likely that no one will object. BooleanQuackery (talk) 08:10, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Comparative Developmental Biology
— Assignment last updated by Najjar123 (talk) 19:04, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

Defining epigenetics
We have an extensive discussion in this article about the meaning of the word "epigenetics." Although we could quibble about various definitions, the general consensus is that the word refers to reversible histone and DNA modifications. That's the view that's reflected in the figure at the top of the page.

It's not a good idea to change the lead in order to insert a different definition. We need to agree on how we define epigenetics in this article.

Nobody has presented credible evidence for the inheritance of histone modifications across multiple generations and there is considerable debate about whether epigenetic DNA methylations are truly heritable in the sense that they might play a role in evolution. We are not doing our readers any favors by presenting only one side of this story.

The main controversy in the field of epigenetics is whether histone and DNA markers are an independent cause of gene regulation or merely a consequence of transcription factor binding. The idea that gene regulation in complex eukaryotes is mostly due to transcription factors recognizing specific DNA sequences, as in bacteria, is known as the recruitment model and it conflicts with many descriptions of epigenetics in the scientific literature and in the popular press. You may disagree with Ptashne's interpretation but that's not the point. We should not be writing this article as though the common popular beliefs were proven facts.

Here's an old blog post of mine that generated a great deal of discussion. I'm not posting it here as an authoritative definition of epigenetics - it's sole purpose is to alert people to the controversy over how to define the word.

What the heck is epigenetics? https://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2017/01/what-heck-is-epigenetics.html Genome42

(talk) 23:08, 13 December 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Comparative Developmental Biology
— Assignment last updated by Vjj18 (talk) 15:37, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Senior Seminar
— Assignment last updated by TAA999 (talk) 17:44, 20 March 2024 (UTC)