The true promise of epigenetics has become apparent only in the last few years, as scientists’ ability to assess the epigenetic mechanisms in DNA – which can now be measured at roughly 30 million points across the human genome – has dramatically improved. Epigenetics can potentially be used to explain the root causes of many diseases that scientists have so far struggled to understand, from asthma to allergies to autism.
发育遗传学的真正意义在近几年才显现出来，这是因为科学家理解DNA的发育遗传机制（现在可以通过人类基因组上的约3 000万个点测出）的能力有了极大的提升。发育遗传学可以用于解释许多科学家至今仍在努力弄懂的疾病的根源，比如哮喘、过敏和自闭症。