Environmental Epigenetics is a new, international, peer-reviewed, fully open access journal, which publishes research in any area of science and medicine related to the field of epigenetics, with particular interest on environmental relevance. With the first issue scheduled to launch this summer, we found this to be the perfect time to speak with Dr. Michael K. Skinner, Editor-in-Chief to discuss the launch of the journal into an exciting and rapidly developing field.
What encouraged the launch of Environmental Epigenetics?
I considered the other journals that had been developed. Several fine journals in the areas around molecular epigenetics and disease epigenetics have been developed, with approximately 10 total journals currently on specifically focused epigenetic topics. In considering this, one of the main areas of epigenetics not currently addressed is environmental epigenetics.
To give you a perspective, considering all publications obtained on PubMed for keyword “epigenetics” a total of approximately 12,000 are obtained, and of those 11,400 were published in the last five years. Therefore, over 95% of the published literature in epigenetics is less than five years old. This reflects the dramatic recent growth in the field.
What, exactly, is environmental epigenetics?
The scope of environmental epigenetics is broad and includes environmental impacts on epigenetics on both a molecular and physiological level involving all living organisms. This includes areas from evolution, ecology and population epigenetics to medicine, disease etiology and the developmental origins of disease. How the environment impacts the molecular mechanisms and processes involved in epigenetics and genetics are included, whether this impacts normal cell and developmental biology, or the area of toxicology.
How has the field of epigenetics developed?
The field of epigenetics started in the 1940’s with Conrad Waddington, who coined the term, studying environment-gene interactions and non-Mendelian genetic phenomenon. Epigenetic molecular marks were first identified in the 1970’s with DNA methylation, but it was not until the late 1980’s and 1990’s when many of the epigenetic processes (DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin structure, and non-coding RNA) were established. Within the area of epigenetics the largest sub-topic is molecular epigenetics at 40%, then disease epigenetics at over 30% and the next focused sub-topic is environmental epigenetics at nearly 25% of the literature published.
What has led you to this point in your career in epigenetics?
Our research over the last twenty years indicated that many biological processes and the origins of disease does not follow classic genetic mechanisms. An alternate molecular mechanism is epigenetics that has an equally important role in regulating genome activity and biology. When we found environmental factors such as nutrition and toxicants could dramatically alter epigenetic processes, we realized the ability of environment to impact biology and genetics is likely mediated through epigenetics. The role of environmental epigenetics has now become considered for most biological processes from disease etiology to evolution.
What is your perspective on Environmental Epigenetics being an open access journal?
In my opinion, in the near future all journals will be open access to facilitate the access to scientific information and research for both the science community and the public. The traditional publication processes and library access to print versions for journals will likely shift to electronic access of everything in the next decade, if not sooner.
What do you hope to see in the coming years from both the field and the journal?
I would hope Environmental Epigenetics becomes the premier journal in the field and facilitate the publication of research in the area. For the biological sciences, soon it will be realized that epigenetics is equally as important as genetics in the molecular regulation of all biology. I suspect there will never be a genetic only process, as there will never be an epigenetic only process. This is due to the required integration of epigenetics with genetics.
Recent Comments
There are currently no comments.