Gene regulation and gene product quantity is crucial for growth, development and physiology. European researchers embarked on an initiative that indicates that epigenetic changes in regulation processes can be the basis of selection in evolution.
The EU-funded PRIMATE_REG_EVOL (A comparative genomic study of the contribution of epigenetic mechanisms to regulatory evolution in primates) project focused on the role of epigenetics in primate evolution. Involving chemical reactions that are not the result of changes in the DNA, the researchers studied epigenetic changes in five tissues from humans, chimpanzees and rhesus macaque monkeys.
Further details: Beyond DNA changes in primate evolution