Behavior Genetics and Post Genomics
Abstract
The science of genetics is undergoing a paradigm shift. Recent discoveries, including
the activity of retrotransposons, the extent of copy number variations, somatic and
chromosomal mosaicism, and the nature of the epigenome as a regulator of DNA expressivity,
are challenging a series of dogmas concerning the nature of the genome and the relationship
between genotype and phenotype. DNA, once held to be the unchanging template of heredity,
now appears subject to a good deal of environmental change; considered to be identical
in all cells and tissues of the body, there is growing evidence that somatic mosaicism
is the normal human condition; and treated as the sole biological agent of heritability,
we now know that the epigenome, which regulates gene expressivity, can be inherited
via the germline. These developments are particularly significant for behavior genetics
for at least three reasons: First, these phenomena appear to be particularly prevalent
in the human brain, and likely are involved in much of human behavior; second, they
have important implications for the validity of heritability and gene association
studies, the methodologies that largely define the discipline of behavior genetics;
and third, they appear to play a critical role in development during the perinatal
period, and in enabling phenotypic plasticity in offspring in particular. I examine
one of the central claims to emerge from the use of heritability studies in the behavioral
sciences, the principle of “minimal shared maternal effects,” in light of the growing
awareness that the maternal perinatal environment is a critical venue for the exercise
of adaptive phenotypic plasticity. This consideration has important implications for
both developmental and evolutionary biology
Type
Journal articleSubject
geneticsbehavior genetics
heritability
epigenetics
twin studies
gene association studies
developmental biology
phenotypic plasticity
evolutionary developmental biology
evo-devo
maternal effects
stochasticity
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Evan Charney
Associate Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy

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