Advances in Neuropsychiatric Genetics: Environmental Stress and the Behavioural Epigenome
A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Genetics and Genomics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2025) | Viewed by 449
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent years, substantial progress has been made in unveiling the extent of common and rare gene variants associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. Can physiologically appropriate models be developed that indicate “how it all hangs together?” On a genomic level, a system remaining in equilibrium will not possess the internal dynamics it needs to respond to its environment, while a system in chaos ceases to function as a system. The most productive state is for certain genomic components to operate at the edge of chaos, leading to new possibilities with maximum variety and creativity.
The main questions to be explored in this Special Issue of GENES are: a) How do genomic mechanisms interact with the environment to influence neurobehavioural gene expression? b) How and when is environmentally ingrained genomic information transmitted within families and populations? c) Which genomic mechanisms are involved when the acquired, mostly noncoding genomic rearrangements develop pathological characteristics? This Special Issue, “Advances in Neuropsychiatric Genetics: Environmental Stress and the Behavioural Epigenome", aims to publish high-quality research articles, review articles, and communications to shed further light on these questions. A further important question is whether artificial intelligence approaches can marry current gene expression data with the epigenetic mechanisms proposed to be activated by various environmental stressors.
Suggested topics include: epigenetic epidemiology, epigenetic mechanisms of intrafamilial susceptibility, the elucidation of epigenetic antenatal/neurodevelopmental pathways in specific disorders, inherited epigenetic effects of armed conflict and posttraumatic stress disorders, related animal and transgenic animal research, brain mosaicism, epigenetic mechanisms of neuropsychiatric comorbidity and clustering of seemingly unrelated disorders, the delineation of endophenotypes/heterogeneity in specific psychiatric disorders; perspectives from evolutionary medicine, molecular and structural biology and microbiomics, epigenomic single-cell sequencing insights and epigenetic gene editing prospects.
Prof. Dr. George Gericke
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- genetic memory
- transgenerational memory inheritance
- physiological research models
- artificial inheritance
- epigenetic war memory
- posttraumatic stress epigenetics
- microbiome
- global epidemics
- epigenetic epidemiology
- neurodevelopmental pathways
- animal studies
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