Epigenetics: Genetics, Ecology, and Plasticity

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Have you ever wondered how a single cell could possess all the genetic information in an organism but only display certain phenotypic traits? Have you ever questioned how genetically identical organisms can be morphologically distinct under certain conditions? Have you noticed how the environment can induce aberrant gene expression resulting in disease, including reproductive disease in humans that can be transmitted across generations? Epigenetics: Genetics, Ecology, and Plasticity covers the emerging field of epigenetics, detailing mechanisms and their understood functions. The course applies epigenetic knowledge to evolutionary concepts, like phenotypic plasticity, demonstrating how environmental stimuli can incite change within- and across generations. The course assesses how these changes can remain within a population, resulting in a new phenotypic trait that changes how humans see and interact with the organism. Finally, the course 1) provides model organisms for studying epigenetics, 2) challenges students to formulate a hypothesis to address how an organism could respond epigenetically to an environmental change, and 3) explain how their hypothesis would work by synthesizing information given in this course and the prerequisites listed.