Aberrant epigenetic alterations are known to disrupt key developmental events, particuarly in the nervous system, leading to conditions such as Rett's syndrome (Shahbazian and Zoghbi, 2002), immunodeficiency centromeric instability and facial syndrome (ICF) (Hansen et al., 1999, Tao et al., 2002, Ueda et al., 2006), and Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome (Lalande et al., 1999; Xin et al., 2003; Lalande and Calciano, 2007). Environmental input also has a significant influence on development and can alter epigenetic programming. Recently, we and others have reported that alcohol exposure alters DNA methylation, resulting in genetic and phenotypic changes (Qiang et al., 2010; Ouko et al., 2009; Haycock, 2009; Pandey et al., 2008; Moonat et al., 2010; Shukla et al., 2008; Oberlander et al., 2008; Miranda et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2009; Kaminen-Ahola et al., 2010).
