May 12, 2016

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Gene Regulation, Illustrated

What are epigenetic modifications, and how might they play out across generations?

By Jen Christiansen

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Perhaps you read The New Yorker article by Siddhartha Mukherjee on epigenetics last week. Or maybe you skipped straight-ahead to the critiques, in which scientists and journalists holler that the story ignores key research areas, and dances around details to the point of being misleading. 

One thing that everyone seems to agree upon: gene regulation is complicated. As is writing about it for a non-specialist audience.

At Scientific American, we've tackled the challenge of illustrating different aspects of epigenetics a few times over the last five years. In the spirit of helping to establish baseline understanding of the topic, here are a few figures from the archive.

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I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that—like The New Yorker article—the graphics presented here do not attempt to present all epigenetic mechanisms and do not include the transcription factors that are so critical to gene activity. These illustrations were originally produced to accompany articles on specific lines of research by Eric Nestler (2011) and Michael Skinner (2014), respectively. But I think they are useful, in providing some context: Specifically, what are epigenetic modifications, and how might they play out across generations?

Illustration by AXS Biomedical Animation Studio. Originally produced for "Hidden Switches in the Mind," By Eric Nestler, in Scientific American, December 2011.

Illustration by Emily Cooper. Originally produced for "A New Kind of Inheritance," By Michael Skinner, in Scientific American, August, 2014.

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Jen Christiansen is acting chief of design and senior graphics editor at Scientific American, where she art directs and produces illustrated explanatory diagrams and data visualizations. She is also author of the book Building Science Graphics: An Illustrated Guide to Communicating Science through Diagrams and Visualizations (CRC Press). In 1996 she began her publishing career in New York City at Scientific American. Subsequently she moved to Washington, D.C., to join the staff of National Geographic (first as an assistant art director–researcher hybrid and then as a designer), spent four years as a freelance science communicator and returned to Scientific American in 2007. Christiansen presents and writes on topics ranging from reconciling her love for art and science to her quest to learn more about the pulsar chart on the cover of Joy Division’s album Unknown Pleasures. She holds a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a B.A. in geology and studio art from Smith College. Follow Christiansen on Bluesky @jenchristiansen.com

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