Variación epigenética y su impacto en la biodiversidad

Resumen

Recent advances in the field of genomics have opened up new perspectives for understanding the influence of the environment on genome expression. Epigenetics can provide a broad overview on the study of genetic variation and its impact on biological diversity. Epigenetic processes play an important role in natural variation and microevolution by generating a great number of polymorphisms on which natural selection can act on. This paper discusses gene expression modification by diverse dynamic processes, the structure of DNA formed by silent introns, repetitive elements, and DNA methylation and histone acetylation. The resulting impact on biodiversity is also discussed.