>
> >Epigenetics cannot equal genetics, otherwise, why have the term at all?
> (Which is a valid question.)


Epigenetics is the mechanics of how genetics respond to the environment,
moment by moment, day to day.

Epigenetics is the only thing that differentiates a queen from a drone from
a worker--they can all have identical genetics.

But the manner in which those epigenetics differentially express the
genetics is also controlled by the genetics--thus we can predict which
environmental factors (such as the feeding of the larva) will cause an
embryo to develop into a male or different caste of female.  (I'm
stretching to include whether there are different alleles at the sex locus
as "environmental" in this instance, but that doesn't change my
point--there's no difference in the genes).

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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