WHEN GENES ARE NOT ENOUGH: GENOMICS AND EPIGENOMICS

Abstract

Sequencing technologies, that permit to determine the exact sequence of base pairs forming a DNA molecule, have been an historical breakthrough for all life sciences. Their large scale application to the sequencing of entire genomes, like the human genome, has on the other hand revealed some unexpected features of the organization of genes, as well as of the regulation of their expression. This article briefly summarizes how the post-genomic era, in which the whole genome could be studied, instead of the single parts composing it, has brought to the revision and the update of some of the most basic assumptions of classic genetics, as well as the discovery of the fundamental role of the epigenetic regulation of gene expression.