Top ten reasons why Epigenetics doesn't support evolution

Ten years ago epigenetic mechanisms and factors were thought to play a role only in phenotypic plasticity producing layers that don't affect evolution. It was believed that epigenetic mechanisms don't affect DNA at nucleotide level.

Five years ago we were taught that epigenetic mechanisms control gene expression and in this way they help organisms adapt to changing environment. At this point epigenetics was taken as a part of the theory of evolution. A typical claim was that minor epigenetic changes accumulate into major evolutionary alterations and transitions. These beliefs are highly pseudoscientific myths, because

1. Epigenetic mechanisms have full control of transcription (reading) of DNA. An example: Look at your skin cell and compare it with your muscle cell. They both have exactly the same DNA sequences but yet they have totally different identities and tasks. They produce different proteins even having similar DNA. This is because epigenetic programming, which affects cellular differentiation, differs so much between these two cell types. This example should help us understand that DNA doesn't determine cellular differentiation, tissue type, organ structure or body plan. It's all epigenetics.
   
   
2. Organisms adapt to changing conditions due to epigenetic mechanisms that control signaling pathways in cells. Signaling pathways, such as SHH, Wnt/β-Catenin, TGF-β, Notch, JAK/STAT and BMP typically need receptors and signaling molecules. Receptors are always products of Alternative Splicing that is regulated and controlled by epigenetic mechanisms and factors.
   
   
3. Random mutations and selection have nothing to do with organismal adaptation. Darwin was wrong. An example: Darwin's Finches adapt to new food type after starting to eat new food type. The food compounds themselves affect birds' epigenomes and changing information is passed to offspring. 
   
   
4. Epigenetic modifications are dynamic and reversible changes due to epigenetic readers, writers and erasers. No new information is added in the cell during adaptational processes. Epigenetic alterations act like reversible switches. Change doesn't mean evolution.
   
   
5. Epigenetic factors can be inherited over hundreds of generations. Epigenetic memory systems make this possible. The cell uses histone markers as a biological database that acts like a registry database for epigenetic information profiles.
   
   
6. Gene and genome duplications are thought to result in evolution. In reality, gene and genome duplications, neo- and subfunctionalizations are controlled by epigenetic mechanisms and factors. After genome duplications there is a heavy loss of DNA because the cell removes unnecessary DNA. No new information, no evolution.
   
   
7. Epigenetic changes, such as altering methylation patterns, expose DNA to genetic errors. The most common mutation of this type is C>T alteration. These are called hotspot mutations and they are very common genetic errors in all kind of organisms. Of more than 50,000 genetic changes currently known to be associated with disease in humans, 32,000 of those are caused by the simple swap of one base pair for another. 48% of these are C>T mutations.
   
   
8. Epigenetic modifications, because they expose DNA to harmful mutations, result in genetic entropy. This can be observed as GC content turning to AT content that leads to weaker immune systems and narrower possibilities in adapting to changing environment. This can also be observed as decrease in chromosome number especially in diploid organisms such as mammals.
   
   
9. Epigenetic modifications make organisms possible to adapt and variate without changes in DNA. This means that the number of species in the world has been overestimated.
   
   
10. Useful, really beneficial DNA changes are no random occurrences. Modern science has revealed that epigenetic mechanism are able to modify even DNA bases.
    
    Evolution never happened. Don't get lost, my friends.