اپی‌ژنتیک

The study of heritable traits that are not passed on through the genetic sequence of DNA. For example, certain chemical changes in the DNA molecule that do not alter its sequence of bases (e.g., methylation patterns) can be passed down from parent to offspring and can affect which genes are turned on or off. Note that the term epigenetics is also sometimes used to refer to the study of gene expression and gene-environment interactions regardless of the heritability of these changes.