The definition of epigenetics has received much attention,
as attested by the number of recent publications.
On revisiting this definition in 1987, Holliday applied
the term epigenetic to situations in which changes in
DNA methylation result in changes in gene activity.

Although the inheritance of epigenetic marks during
the cell cycle provides a means of stably maintaining
a cell lineage, epigenetic information is reversible in
nature.

The candidate epigenetic marks that
are transmitted through meiosis and are responsible for
this transgenerational inheritance, and the influence of
environmental factors including diet (for example, the
level of methyl donors) on transmission, remain matters
of debate.

-- 
Epigenetic inheritance during the cell cycle
Aline V. Probst, Elaine Dunleavy and Geneviève Almouzni
NATURE REVIEWS | MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY
VOLUME 10 | MARCH 2009 | 193

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