DNA and histone modifications represent additional layers of information superimposed onto the DNA sequence. Modern-day epigenetics is the study of this “information” and: • How it is established, maintained and modified; • How its code is translated by the cell; • How it is inherited, both in the short term by the next generations of cells and organisms, and over the much longer periods of time over which evolution takes place; • How it becomes distorted and scrambled in disease; and • How we can read and perhaps learn to edit this information to help improve our health.
