Epigenetics refers to the study of a natural phenomenon and to the phenomenon itself. Epigenetics is the study of the mechanisms that turn on and off the expression of our genes without altering the DNA sequence. Epigenetics is also used to refer to the changes in expression of our genes.
Factors such as age, nutritional habits, psychological stress, physical activity, working habits and substance abuse can trigger changes in gene expression (Alegría-Torres, 2011). These changes in gene expression, epigenetics, happen all the time in the natural world.
For example, two identical twins, born with the exact same DNA sequence may not express the same genes. One may develop an illness while the other does not. Even diseases that are highly heritable are not guaranteed to develop in both identical twins. If your identical twin has schizophrenia, you have a 53% chance of developing schizophrenia (Roth, Lubin, Sodhi, & Kleinman, 2009). But If you have the exact same DNA, and schizophrenia is genetically heritable, why do you not have 100% chance of developing the same disorder?
[For more on this story by Fabiana Franco, Ph.D., go to https://psychcentral.com/lib/c...uma-and-epigenetics/]
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