Genetic inheritance: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:37, 30 November 2002

Revision as of 17:16, 6 December 2002

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Mechanisms of ''biological inheritance''

# [[Genetic]] inheritance is due to alterationsAlterations in [[DNA]] sequence and has accountedaccounts for the vast majority of characterized heritable variation.

# [[Epigenetic inheritance]] results from reversible alterations in the activity of [[gene]]s.

# [[Prion]]s are [[protein]] folding variants that are able propagate by inducing other variants of the same protein to fold into the prion form.

# [[Structural inheritance]] refers to the relative position of biomolecules and the need to use an existing structure as a template to produce a new copy of that structure. This is most apparent in the membrane systems of eukaryotic cells. While this type of inheritance is fundamental to the distinctions made among the various domains of life, new instances of heretible structural variation are rare.