The study of epigenetic mechanisms refers to investigating how non-genetic influences effect DNA transcription or subsequent gene expression. These influences include: (1) methylation of specific genes, which generally reduce gene expression; (2) changes in microRNA production (miRNA), which are a class of small, noncoding regulatory RNAs that are central to regulating protein translation; and (3) histone modification via acetylation, which changes DNA conformation, altering accessibility for translation (Kenny, 2014; Zhou, et al., 2014).
