| Chapter title |
Epigenetic code and self-identity.
|
|---|---|
| Chapter number | 14 |
| Book title |
Self and Nonself
|
| Published in |
Advances in experimental medicine and biology, March 2012
|
| DOI | 10.1007/978-1-4614-1680-7_14 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Book ISBNs |
978-1-4614-1679-1, 978-1-4614-1680-7
|
| Authors |
Calvanese V, Lara E, Fraga MF, Vincenzo Calvanese, Ester Lara, Mario F. Fraga |
| Abstract |
Epigenetics is a new and expanding science that studies the chromatin-based regulation of gene expression. It is achieving considerable importance, especially with regard to developmental mechanisms that drive cell and organ differentiation, as well as in all those biological processes that involve response and adaptation to environmental stimuli. One of the most interesting biological questions concerning animals, especially human beings, is the ability to distinguish self from nonself. This ability has developed throughout evolution, both as the main function of the immune system, which defends against attack by foreign organisms and at the level of consciousness of oneself as an individual, one of the highest functions of the brain that enables social life. Here we will attempt to dissect the epigenetic mechanisms involved in establishing these higher functions and describe some alterations of the epigenetic machinery responsible for the impairment of correct self-recognition and self-identity. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1 | 3% |
| Unknown | 33 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 11 | 32% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 7 | 21% |
| Other | 3 | 9% |
| Student > Master | 3 | 9% |
| Professor | 3 | 9% |
| Other | 4 | 12% |
| Unknown | 3 | 9% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 18 | 53% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 5 | 15% |
| Engineering | 2 | 6% |
| Arts and Humanities | 1 | 3% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 1 | 3% |
| Other | 4 | 12% |
| Unknown | 3 | 9% |