Epic Genetics – Sidebar

You can hit ‘undo’

Read the main feature story on epigenetics here.


Once a chisel hits marble, there’s no second chance for a sculptor. Many researchers thought that once a methyl group was attached to DNA, the modification was also set in stone. Carbon–to–carbon bonds between the methyl group (one carbon and three hydrogens) and the DNA base are too strong to sever, the reasoning goes.