Epigenetics

Illuminating the processes and patterns that link genotype to phenotype, epigenetics seeks to explain features, characters, and developmental mechanisms that can only be understood in terms of interactions that arise above the level of the gene. With chapters written by leading authorities, this volume offers a broad integrative survey of epigenetics. Approaching this complex subject from a variety of perspectives, it presents a broad, historically grounded view that demonstrates the utility of this approach for understanding complex biological systems in development, disease, and evolution. Chapters cover such topics as morphogenesis and organ formation, conceptual foundations, and cell differentiation, and together demonstrate that the integration of epigenetics into mainstream developmental biology is essential for answering fundamental questions about how phenotypic traits are produced.

Benedikt Hallgrimsson, Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Calgary, is coeditor of Variation: A Central Concept in Biology and of Advanced Imaging in Biology and Medicine: Technology, Software Environments, Applications. Brian K. Hall is University Research Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University. His latest book is Evolution: Principles and Processes.

Epigenetics:
Linking Genotype and Phenotype in Development and Evolution

1. Introduction: Emergent Properties and the Phenotype
Hallgrímsson and Hall

Historical and Philosophical Foundations
2. Historical Foundations
Brian K. Hall

3. Heuristic Reductionism and the Relative Significance of Inheritance
James Grisemer


Approaches to Epigenetics
4. Genomic imprinting
Vett Lloyd

5. Methylation Mapping in Humans
Christoph Grunau, Montpellier

6. Asexuality and Epigenetic Variation
Root Gorelick, Manfred Laubichler and Rachel Massicotte

7. Preformation and the Humpty Dumpty Problem
Ellie Larsen

8. A Principle of Developmental Inertia
Allesandro Minelli


Epigenetics of Vertebrate Organ Development
9. Nervous System Development
Carol Schuurmans

10. Morphogenesis of pigment patterns
Lennart Olsson

11. Interactions of the Cardiac Neural Crest
Margaret Kirby

12. Bone and Cartilage Development
Tamara Franz-Odendaal

13. Muscle-Bone Interactions and the Development of Skeletal Phenotype
Sue Herring

14. Apical Ectoderm in the Developing Vertebrate Limb
Cooper, L.N, Armfield, B.A., J.G.M. Thewissen

15. Role of Skeletal Muscle in the Shaping of Organs, Tissues and Cell Fate Choices
Boris Kablar

Epigenetics in Evolution and Disease
16. Integration, Complexity and Evolvability of the Head
Dan Lieberman

17. Epigenetic interactions: The developmental route to functional integration
Miriam Leah Zelditcha and Donald L. Swiderski

18. Epigenetic Contributions to Adaptive Radiation
Susan Foster

19. Learning, Developmental Plasticity, and the Rate of Morphological Evolution
Rich Palmer and Chris Neufeld

20. Epigenetics: Adaptation or Contingency
Thomas Hansen

21. Dysmorphology
Joan Richtsmeier

22. Human Disease
Peter Gluckman

23. Epigenetics: The Context of Development
Hallgrimsson and Hall