An operational definition of epigenetics

  1. Shelley L. Berger1,5,
  2. Tony Kouzarides2,5,
  3. Ramin Shiekhattar3,5 and
  4. Ali Shilatifard4,5
  1. 1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA;
  2. 2Gurdon Institute and Department of Pathology, Cambridge CB2 1QN, United Kingdom;
  3. 3Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA;
  4. 4Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri 64110, USA
    1. 5 These authors contributed equally to this work.

    Abstract

    A recent meeting (December 2008) regarding chromatin-based epigenetics was hosted by the Banbury Conference Center and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The intent was to discuss aspects of epigenetic control of genomic function, and to arrive at a consensus definition of “epigenetics” to be considered by the broader community. It was evident that multiple mechanistic steps lead to the stable heritance of the epigenetic phenotype. Below we provide our view and interpretation of the proceedings at the meeting.

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