Epigenetics in Health and Disease

Product Author Bios

Igor Kovalchuk, Ph.D., MD (Lethbridge, Alberta)is Professor and Board of Governors Research Chair at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge. He edits Frontiers in Plant Microbe Interaction, Frontiers in Epigenomics, and other publications. His research interests include DNA repair in plants.

Olga Kovalchuk, Ph.D., MD (Lethbridge, Alberta), also Professor and Board of Governors Research Chair at University of Lethbridge, researches epigenetic dysregulation in carcinogenesis; epigenetic regulation of cancer treatment responses; radiation epigenetics; and the role of epigenetic changes in genome stability and carcinogenesis.

This is the first comprehensive, authoritative, and easy-to-understand introduction to modern epigenetics. Authored by two active researchers in the field, it introduces key concepts one step at a time, enabling students at all levels to benefit from it. The authors begin by presenting a historical overview that places epigenetics in context, and makes it clear that the field is not (as some presume) completely new. Next, they introduce and explain key epigenetic mechanisms, and discuss the roles these mechanisms may play in inheritance, organism development, health and disease, behavior, evolution, ecology, and the interaction of individual organisms with their environments. Coverage includes: non-coding RNAs in each kingdom; allelic interactions; CRYSPR; gene silencing; epigenetics of germline and epigenetic memory; epigenetic regulation of genome stability and plant stress response; and much more. The authors conclude by offering significant new insights into how knowledge of epigenetics and epigenomics may promote the development of technologies and solutions in areas ranging from behavioral neuroscience to cancer treatment, toxicology to the development of hardier crops.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1   Historical Perspective     1
Chapter 2   Chromatin Dynamics and Chromatin Remodeling in Animals     19
Chapter 3   Chromatin Dynamics and Chromatin Remodeling in Plants     49
Chapter 4   DNA Methylation as Epigenetic Mechanism     75
Chapter 5   Histone Modifications and Their Role in Epigenetic Regulation     119
Chapter 6   Realm of Non-Coding RNAs--From Bacteria to Human     147
Chapter 7   Non-Coding RNAs Involved in Epigenetic Processes--A General Overview     177
Chapter 8   Non-Coding RNAs Across the Kingdoms--Bacteria and Archaea     203
Chapter 9   Non-Coding RNAs Across the Kingdoms--Protista and Fungi     223
Chapter 10  Non-Coding RNAs Across the Kingdoms--Animals     267
Chapter 11  Non-Coding RNAs Across the Kingdoms--Plants     297
Chapter 12  Non-Coding RNAs--Comparison of Biogenesis in Plants and Animals     327
Chapter 13  Paramutation, Transactivation, Transvection, and Cosuppression--Silencing of Homologous Sequences     343
Chapter 14  Bacterial Adaptive Immunity--Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)     385
Chapter 15  Gene Silencing--Ancient Immune Response and a Versatile Mechanism of Control over the Fate of Foreign Nucleic Acids     409
Chapter 16  Epigenetics of Germline and Epigenetic Memory     435
Chapter 17  Epigenetics of Health and Disease--Cancer     465
Chapter 18  Epigenetics of Health and Disease--Behavioral Neuroscience     499
Chapter 19  Epigenetics of Health and Disease--Diet and Toxicology, Environmental Exposures     523
Chapter 20  Epigenetics and Technology--Hairpin-Based Antisensing     555
Index     577