The Role of Epigenetics in Evolution: The Extended Synthesis
1Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, C. S. Mott Center for Human Health and Development, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
3Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
4Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Marshall University, Huntington, WV 25755, USA
The Role of Epigenetics in Evolution: The Extended Synthesis
Description
In 1942, Julian Huxley wrote an influential book Evolution: The Modern Synthesis that influenced generations of geneticists to today. The basis of the “modern synthesis,” also called the “new synthesis,” is that it addresses the question of whether Mendelian genetics could be reconciled with gradual evolution by means of natural selection of existing genetic variation. The modern synthesis states that “genetic assimilation” of existing variation can explain adaptation to a stressful environment and the evolution of new species. We propose an “ultramodern synthesis” that incorporates a range of responses an organism makes to environmental change or uncertainty, the timescales of these processes, the potential for reversibility, and the interplay between individual and population processes. Epigenetics is not an alternative to genetically-based adaptation. Rather, it is a mechanism by which an individual adjusts his biology in response to some stimulus and potentially transmits that change across generations.
We invite authors to submit original research articles as well as review articles in the following topics for both human and model organism evolution. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Transgeneration epigenetics
- How epigenetic effects contribute to phenotypic variation and ecological breadth in native and invasive plants
- Experimental evolution of epigenetic effects in Arabidopsis
- Phenotypic plasticity in natural and agricultural systems in changing environments
- Bioinformatics evidence for epigenetic changes leading to genetic changes
- Bioinformatics evidence that prions are involved in epigenetic inheritance
- Epigenetic contributions to repeat expansions and contractions in the genome
- Hsp90 as an epigenetic capacitor for morphological evolution
- Quantitative epigenetics and the epigenetic assimilation of metastable epialleles
- Hybrid incompatibilities, evolution, and epigenetics
- Heterochromatin evolution
- Neocentromere evolution
- The role of imprinting in evolution
- The role of X-chromosome inactivation in evolution
Articles published in this special issue will not be subject to the journal's Article Processing Charges.
Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/gri/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: