The Role of Epigenetics in Understanding Genetic Regulation
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Abstract
The mechanisms by which cells regulate the vast amounts of genetic information are of central concern in biology. Genetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional processes are undoubtedly the central means of regulating gene expression. However, recent studies have suggested an additional level of control, epigenetic events, that may play an equally crucial role. These processes change the genetic information at the level of DNA or protein by a system of nucleoprotein interactions to affect gene expression and must necessarily affect the genetic regulation of gene function. Indeed, many biological phenomena, such as X-chromosome inactivation and position-effect variegation, depend upon epigenetic processes. These epigenetic effects must exert control at higher levels of macromolecular organization. The regulation of chromosome behavior during mitosis and meiosis has long been known. It is beginning to be realized that this management of macromolecular associations also has a central role in genetic processes, including, especially, the regulation of gene activity. In this review, we will attempt to discuss how changes in spatial macromolecular associations can affect gene activity, and thereby how mutations in components of the controlling mechanisms can lead to developmental perturbations. To understand the regulation of genes that act along specific pathways, we will focus on the regulation of eukaryotic and organellar transcription by protein complexes that play essential roles in these processes. These complexes are present in all eukaryotes and act during the transcription of gene products that are essential for higher cell function, namely messenger RNA and organellar RNA. The regulation of their activity is complex and, although some of the existing knowledge can be used to explain the effects of several genetic perturbations, we would like to suggest that a significant proportion of gene silencing and developmental problems in which gene product misuse is not a primary problem could be attributable to mutations in these control processes. (Dhar et al., 2021)