Epimutation
An epimutation ( Latin: mutare "change, transform") and ancient Greek ὲπΐ (epi - "to", also as a prefix) is a non-permanent change in the genetic make-up .
The technical term epimutation was established by biologists at Duke University in Durham (North Carolina, USA) and the Mare Nostrum Campus in Murcia (Spain) for resistance mechanisms in microorganisms that were only temporarily active in 2013. Bacteria and fungi can evade the effects of drugs in the short term. The best-known mechanism of resistance consists in permanent genetic changes. It was noticeable in a fungus, the pathogen Mucor circinelloides , that it protects itself from the fungal toxin tacrolimus by temporarily switching off the FKBP12 gene with the help of small bits of genetic material (cf. RNA interference ). The RNA molecules specifically switched off only the gene FKBP12. The mushroom can cancel the shutdown at any time.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Silvia Calo, Cecelia Shertz-Wall, Soo Chan Lee, Robert J. Bastidas, Francisco E. Nicolás, Joshua A. Granek, Piotr Mieczkowski, Santiago Torres-Martínez, Rosa M. Ruiz-Vázquez, Maria E. Cardenas, Joseph Heitman : Antifungal drug resistance evoked via RNAi-dependent epimutations , July 27, 2014, Nature , DOI: 10.1038 / nature13575