Neurobiology and its Applications to Psychotherapy – II

What is Epigenetics?

Epigenetics refers to any phenomenon which cannot be explained just by referring to the DNA sequence of an organism. Whenever two things have identical DNA, but are different to each other, that is an example of epigenetics in action. This can be seen around us all the time. Think of the limbless maggot and the mature fly it turns into, or identical twins where one develops schizophrenia and the other is completely healthy. In this presentation we will cover examples of epigenetics in action. But we will go further and look at how epigenetic phenomena are controlled. This is carried out by a series of potentially reversible modifications to DNA. They don’t alter what a gene codes for, but they change the expression levels of a gene. These epigenetic modifications can control gene expression for decades, and they provide the crucial mechanistic bridge between nature and nurture.