This book examines the toxicological and health implications of environmental epigenetics and provides knowledge through an interdisciplinary approach. Included in this volume are chapters outlining various environmental risk factors such as phthalates and dietary components, life states such as pregnancy and ageing, hormonal and metabolic considerations and specific disease risks such as cancer cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases. Environmental Epigenetics imparts integrative knowledge of the science of epigenetics and the issues raised in environmental epidemiology. This book is intended to serve both as a reference compendium on environmental epigenetics for scientists in academia, industry and laboratories and as a textbook for graduate level environmental health courses. Environmental Epigenetics imparts integrative knowledge of the science of epigenetics and the issues raised in environmental epidemiology. This book is intended to serve both as a reference compendium on environmental epigenetics for scientists in academia, industry and laboratories and as a textbook for graduate level environmental health courses.

Transgenerational Epigenetics, Second Edition, offers the only up-to-date, comprehensive analysis of the inheritance of epigenetic phenomena between generations with an emphasis on human disease relevance, drug discovery, and next steps in clinical translation. International experts discuss mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance, its expression in animal and plant models, and how human ailments, such as metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease are influenced by transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Where evidence is sufficient, epigenetic clinical interventions are proposed that may help prevent or reduce the severity of disease before offspring are born. This edition has been thoroughly revised in each disease area, featuring newly researched actors in epigenetic regulation, including long noncoding RNA in addition to histone modifications and DNA methylation. Therapeutic pathways in treating cancer and extending human longevity are also considered, as are current debates and future directions for research.

Over the past decades, chromatin remodelling has emerged as an important regulator of gene expression and plant defense. This book provides a detailed understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms involved in plants of agronomic importance. The information presented here is significant because it is expected to provide the knowledge needed to develop in the future treatments to manipulate and selectively activate/inhibit proteins and metabolic pathways to counter pathogens, to treat important diseases and to increase crop productivity. New approaches of this kind and the development of new technologies will certainly increase our knowledge of currently known post-translational modifications and facilitate the understanding of their roles in, for example, host-pathogen interactions and crop productivity. Furthermore, we provide important insight on how the plant epigenome changes in response to developmental or environmental stimuli, how chromatin modifications are established and maintained, to which degree they are used throughout the genome, and how chromatin modifications influence each another.

Biotechnology has emerged as one of the key environmentally safe technologies for the future which enables use of biomass to develop novel smart materials and to replace oil derived products. Fungi are the most efficient producers of the enzymes needed for this purpose and in addition they produce a plethora of secondary metabolites, among which novel antibiotics can be found. Industrial application and exploitation of the metabolic capacities of fungi requires highly productive and robust gene expression systems, which can be achieved by selection of appropriate species and strain improvement. In this book we aim to summarize homologous and heterologous gene expression systems of fungi for production of enzymes and secondary metabolites. A broad overview on requirements, challenges and successful applications shall serve as a basis for further development of fungi as biotechnological workhorses in research and industry.

Epigenetics is a new field that explains gene expression at the chromatin structure and organization level. Three principal epigenetic mechanisms are known and hundreds of combinations among them can develop different phenotypic characteristics. DNA methylation, histone modifications and small RNAs have been identified, and their functions are being studied in order to understand the mechanisms of interaction and regulation among the different biological processes in plants. Although, fundamental epigenetic mechanisms in crop plants are beginning to be elucidated, the comprehension of the different epigenetic mechanisms, by which plant gene regulation and phenotype are modified, is a major topic to develop in the near future in order to increase crop productivity. Thus, the importance of epigenetics in improving crop productivity is undoubtedly growing. Current research on epigenetics suggest that DNA methylation, histone modifications and small RNAs are involved in almost every aspect of plant life including agronomically important traits such as flowering time, fruit development, responses to environmental factors, defense response and plant growth. The aim of this Research Topic is to explore the recent advances concerning the role of epigenetics in crop biotechnology, as well as to enhance and promote interactions among high quality researchers from different disciplines such as genetics, cell biology, pathology, microbiology, and evolutionary biology in order to join forces and decipher the epigenetic mechanisms in crop productivity.