Environmental Epigenomics in Health and Disease

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Fetal Origins of Adult Disease Susceptibility

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Epigenetics: How Genes and Environment Interact

      • Randy L. Jirtle

      Pages 3-30

   3. Developmental Epigenomics and Metabolic Disease

      • Peter D. Gluckman, Felicia M. Low, Mark A. Hanson

      Pages 31-50

   4. Sculpting Our Future: Environmental Nudging of the Imprintome

      • Susan K. Murphy, Cathrine Hoyo

      Pages 51-73

3. Epigenetics and Environmental Exposures

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 75-75

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   2. Complex Phenotypes: Epigenetic Manifestation of Environmental Exposures

      • Christopher Faulk, Dana C. Dolinoy

      Pages 77-97

   3. Epigenetic Effects of Ionizing Radiation

      • Olga Kovalchuk

      Pages 99-126

   4. The Intersection of Genetics and Epigenetics: Reactivation of Mammalian LINE-1 Retrotransposons by Environmental Injury

      • Kenneth S. Ramos, Ivo Teneng, Diego E. Montoya-Durango, Pasano Bojang, Mark T. Haeberle, Irma N. Ramos et al.

      Pages 127-160

4. Epigenetics, Gene Regulation, and Stem Cells

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 161-161

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   2. Environmental Impact on Epigenetic Histone Language

      • John M. Denu

      Pages 163-187

   3. Chromatin Structure and Gene Expression: Function Follows Form

      • Aleksandra B. Adomas, Paul A. Wade

      Pages 189-205

   4. Epigenetics of Pluripotency

      • R. David Hawkins, Bing Ren

      Pages 207-223

5. Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 225-225

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   2. Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance in Drosophila

      • Luan Wang, Xiangyi Lu, Douglas M. Ruden

      Pages 227-244

   3. Environmental Epigenetics and Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance

      • Michael K. Skinner

      Pages 245-256

   4. The Nature of Human Transgenerational Responses

      • Marcus E. Pembrey, Lars O. Bygren, Jean Golding

      Pages 257-271

6. Back Matter

   Pages 273-302

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There are now compelling human epidemiological and animal experimental data that indicate the risk of developing adult-onset complex diseases and neurological disorders are influenced by persistent epigenetic adaptations in response to prenatal and early postnatal exposures to environmental factors. Epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene function that occur without a change in the sequence of the DNA. The main components of the epigenetic code are DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs. The epigenetic programs are established as stem cell differentiate during embryogenesis, and they are normally faithfully reproduced during mitosis. Moreover, they can also be maintained during meiosis, resulting in epigenetic transgenerational disease inheritance, and also potentially introducing phenotypic variation that is selected for in the evolution of new species. The objective of this book is to provide evidence that environmental exposures during early development can alter the risk of developing medical conditions, such as asthma, autism, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and schizophrenia later in life by modifying the epigenome.

• Agouti mouse
• CTCF dysfunction
• chromatin switching
• endocrine disruptors
• environmental aromatic hydrocarbons
• environmental exposures
• genomic imprinting
• imprinted brain
• imprintome
• memory formation
• metastable epialleles

• School of Medicine and Public Health, McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA

  Randy L Jirtle

• National Institute of Environmental Hea, NIEHS, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, USA

  Frederick L. Tyson

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