So too with poo. A poo can take on a variety of appearances and still be considered normal. It can be all manner of shades â from orangey and dark brown to magenta or green from certain veggies or blue from artificially-colored foods and beverages.
Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity which are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence. It is the study of gene expression, the way genes bring about their phenotypic effects. These changes in gene activity may stay for the remainder of the cell's life and may also last for many generations of cells, through cell divisions.
Cancer initiation and progression are accompanied by profound changes in DNA methylation that were the first epigenetic alterations identified in cancer (67, 68). A cancer epigenome is marked by genome-wide hypomethylation and site-specific CpG island promoter hypermethylation (Figure 2) (3).bstract. Epigenetic mechanisms are essential for normal development and maintenance of tissue-specific gene expression patterns in mammals. Disruption of epigenetic processes can lead to altered gene function and malignant cellular transformation. Global changes in the epigenetic landscape are a hallmark of cancer.