Theme – Epigenetics – Part 1

Morphogenesis is strongly impacted by Epigenetic factors and maternal “ecology”. I largely agree with the following notions defining Epigenetics.

“… mechanisms of development … stand between genetic variation and phenotypic variation … causal interactions between genes and their products … bring the phenotype into being … The amount of information in such complex and interactive self-assembling and self-regulating systems is far greater that the arithmetic sum of all the discrete “bits” of input. Even so, in such systems, many phenotypic features are not fully determined at the genetic level. A classic case is that of fingerprints (Dermatoglyphics)” (from Morphogenesis and Evolution by K. S. Thomson, Oxford Univ. Press, 1988).