Certain aspects of innate immunity are also “generalized,” in that upregulation may have ben-eficial effects in novel contexts
This means that some of the aspects of immunity are generalized, meaning that if they are not specific to a certain species. This is important because it allows biologists to research how some of the same aspects affect different species.
In addition, studying population responses to environmental chal-lenges in the present day provides an opportunity to understand analogous responses to similarlydramatic changes in the past, such as the transition from water to land or postglacial climate change(Hoffmann & Parsons 1997).
This states that looking at environmental changes can explain trends that have happened to different species. It is super important to trying to explain historical trends
Other ways in which the microbiome has been related to development include the synthesis of vitamins during postnatal development. There is poor vitamin K diffusion through the placental barrier
This talks about how the microbiome and how affects the creation of vitamins during postnatal development.
Naturalepigeneticvariationisincreasinglyreportedinwildpopulationsofbothplantsandanimals(Hu&Barrett,2017)
In the Theory of Natural Selection, one of the major tenants is genetic variation must be allowed to continue. Maybe in the near future biologists will add an addendum to the Theory of Natural Selection, and talk about epigenetic variation.
the expected change in the genetic component of inheritance from parent to offspring may be affected by nongenetic mechanisms (i.e., methylation)
This explains that even though epigenetic modifications are not genetic they can still have a great affect on the phenotype of an organism. This covers the fourth bullet point.
As gene expression clearly contributes to phenotype, it is critical to learn how epigenetic variation affects gene expression. Recently, Natt et al. (2012) examined the relationship between DNA methylation and differential gene expression in two closely related lineages, the domesticated chicken and its wild ancestor, the redjunglefowl (Gallus gallus). They identified more than 3000 genes were differently expressed between the two subspecies, and they screened promoter sequences for variation in methylation over generations.
This directly relates to the first question because it explains why ecological epigenetics affects phenotypic traits
educators
This is an interesting point because it is saying that educators must be aware of integrative sciences. This would be helpful because they can spread their knowledge of the science to their students making the change to integrative methods of science much quicker and easier for the next generation.
Current methods of research and education limit the likelihood that many scientists will become integrative in the sense described here.
This is really interesting because it says that we have not reached a point where biologists start to not just focus on one aspect of Biology, they combine them.