[rcthompson]

Describing a change to DNA methylation "alters" a gene is technically correct in the sense that it is an change to the molecular structure of the DNA that makes up the gene, but is indeed misleading, because without further clarification a majority of people would assume it refers to a change in the gene sequence.

[adamc]

But since many of them misunderstand the role of gene sequences, that may be less meaningful than you imply.

[johnisgood]

Should it not be "affects" or "influences"?

[rcthompson]

DNA methylation means adding one or more methyl groups to the DNA, so technically it is an alteration. But most people would assume that altering a gene specifically means changing the "letters" of the gene sequence that encode the protein, and that's not what DNA methylation does.

[johnisgood]

Oh, yeah, I suppose I read "influences behavior" a bit too much.

I read about DNA methylation (well, epigenetics in general) in one book for behavioral epigenetics.