Environmental and behavioral influences on gene activity

The central dogma of molecular biology holds that "information" flows from the genes to the structure of the proteins that the genes bring about throu gh the formula DNA --> RNA --> protein. In this view, a set of master genes activates the DNA necessary to produce the appropriate proteins that the o rganism needs during development. In contrast to this view, probabilistic e pigenesis holds that necessarily there are signals from the internal and ex ternal environment that activate DNA to produce the appropriate proteins. T o support this view, I review a substantial body of evidence showing that e xternal environmental influences on gene activation are normally occurring events in a large variety of organisms, including humans. This demonstrates how genes and environments work together to produce functional organisms, thus extending the model of probabilistic epigenesis.