Epigenome

An Epigenome consists of a record of the chemical changes to the DNA and histone proteins of an organism; these changes can be passed down to an organism's offspring. Changes to the epigenome can result in changes to the structure of chromatin and changes to the function of the genome. Epigenetics is one of the current topics in cancer research drawing active research. Human tumors undergo a major disruption of DNA methylation and histone modification patterns. The aberrant epigenetic landscape of the cancer cell is characterized by a large genomic hypomethylation, CpG island promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes, an altered histone code for critical genes and a global loss of monoacetylated and trimethylated histone H4.

Much of the subject matter is not yet fully understood. Some people have suggested a Human Epigenome Project. As a prelude to a full-scale Human Epigenome Project, the Human Epigenome Pilot Project aims to identify and catalogue Methylation Variable Positions (MVPs) in the human genome.