Before conducting research and watching numerous informational videos on epigenetics, I would have never believed that when my grandmother was my age, she made dietary decisions that have affected me. Technically speaking, epigenetics simply means above genetics. In other words, epigenetics is the traits that you and I inherit, but do not necessarily necessitate the sequence of genes. I took me a while to actually grasp the concept until I thought of it from a musical perspective. Imagine our DNA helix strands as a musical score. There are different music notes as there are genes. If someone were to play Beethoven’s Symphony Number 5 correctly, it would sound the same every time. Basically, if one note is changed, the whole musical piece …show more content…
Instead they go through a process of change overtime, or sometimes they’re hereditary. While watching the video, the host Neil deGrasse Tyson stated that our epigenomes tend to change during crucial times in our lives such as puberty and pregnancy. While our mothers were carrying us in their wombs for 9 months, they were passing on these epigenomes that we may pass on to our children. “Just as the genome is passed along from parents to their offspring, the epigenome can also be inherited. The chemical tags found on the DNA and histones of eggs and sperm can be conveyed to the next generation” ("Epigenomics," 2012).
I also learned that these epigenomes change because of environmental factors which include what we do, what we eat, what we drink, or what we smoke. This has been said to be one of the pivotal contraries amongst epigenetics and genetics. I found the groundbreaking study identical twins very interesting. The point of this experiment was to discover if twins were epigenetically identical or not. After obtaining DNA from 40 sets of twins, researchers were able to conclude that as twins age, the chance of epigenetic differences increases.
I conducted an intriguing research on the relationship between epigenetics and psychiatric disorders. It is known that epigenomes are affected by environmental surroundings which can cause life changing results as we age. Also, a mother’s maternal behavior inspires the stress
Environments that surround your childhood can play a great role in who you become in adolescence and adulthood. So, although Wes moved into a better neighborhood, he still was deeply affected by Cherry Hill. Epigenetics: What they are and how they relate to Wes (3.1, 3.2). Epigenetics is the idea of how behaviors and environments surrounding you affect the way your genes work. Changes from epigenetics are reversible, unlike genetic changes, and they do not affect your DNA sequence.
This phenomenon normally shapes culture, behavior, and language over a long period of time. Epigenetics is the study of cellular and physiological trait variations as caused by environmental factors that switch genes on and off. This phenomenon affects the way the cells read and interpret any changes in the DNA sequence. When this coordination fails, disease
The mother rats that nurture their pups they grow up to be calm adults, while the mother rats that neglect their pups they grow up to be anxious. The difference in behaviour is an example of epigenetics, because the nurturing behaviour of a mother rat during the first week of life shapes the pup’s epigenomes. These epigenetic patterns that the mother established remain even when the pups become adults.
Burying the dogma of the genomics fixity, epigenetics demonstrates that our lifestyle changes our genes and we pass these mutations on. This discovery opens up new prospects of cure for many diseases. At the level of our genome, there are two kinds of genes: exons which are genes that are expressed and induce the production of certain proteins, and introns which are genes that are eliminated in the transcription of the RNA, and which therefore are not expressed. Environmental conditions could change that by opening introns or closing exons with all possible intermediate situations between these two extremes, from this perspective, epigenetics would correspond to an open or closed switch, to varying degrees. These different positions of switches then open the door to many combinations of genes. This seems to go against a current scientific dogma that considers the genome of a person is inherited from the parents and then remains fixed and determined for his entire life. Moreover, according to the evolutionary theory of Darwin, if mutations occur in a species facing a changing environment, these changes occur only over extremely long periods of time that often number in the thousands or even millions years. Epigenetics shows that on the contrary, these changes are a natural way and very common in nature. With Epigenetics: we can change our
Epigenetics, as a simplified definition, is the study of biological mechanisms that will switch genes on and off.
Do the experiences or events that your parents, grandparents or even great grandparents had in the past affect your genes? Why do some humans have mental health issues and others do not? Behavioral epigenetics examines how nurture shapes nature, where nature refers to biological heredity and nurture refers to everything that occurs during the animal 's lifespan. Epigenetics is the study of alterations in an organism caused by modifications of gene expressions instead of alterations of the genetic code itself. Behavioral epigenetics is the field of study, which analyzes the role epigenetics have in shaping human or animal behavior. Epigenetics works by wrapping DNA around histone octamers to form nucleosomes. Genes will be transcribed or silenced depending on the spacing of nucleosomes, which is determined by complex processes, including post-translational modification of DNA and histones as well as the large numbers of chromatin regulatory proteins recruited to interact with these modifications (Nestler). Behavioral epigenetics explains why humans and animals behave the way they do, not by changing the DNA, but by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code, which in turn changes behavior in multiple generations.
Epigenetics is the future of science. It has evolved from being a science that very few believed in, to one that will shape medicine as it is known. As the Human Genome Project began, the goal was to determine which genes controlled what phenotypes in a human. After all the genes were identified and mapped, the expression of the genes that the scientists had just discovered was also beginning to be analyzed (EPIGENETICS). Although every gene had been identified and associated with a function, there were genes that if not expressed or not turned on, would create a different scenario. That is, the idea that the genotype of an individual would determine their phenotype was reinforced. Epigenetics however is the study of the switching on or off of the genes responsible for a particular action (Feinberg). For example, all of the organs of a single person have the exact same DNA as the others, yet a lung looks drastically different from a kidney. This is due to the expression of the genes responsible for creating a specific organ. If scientists are able to control the switching on and off of these genes, then many extraordinary possibilities exist.
Epigenetics is the study of cellular and physiological traits that are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence but they are triggered by chemical reactions that activate and deactivate parts of the genome and in specific locations. Therefore, epigenetics is the study of chemical reactions and factors that influence them. Hypothetically, epigenetics has the huge potential in terms of the uncovering genetic development of organisms, including humans, and the impact of chemical reactions that occur under the impact of various factors and affect genome activation and deactivation in specific locations. In this regard, further studies and development of epigenetics is essential but the impact and role of epigenetics should not be overestimated
According to Rachael Rettner, Epigenetics is defined as, “external modifications to DNA that turn genes on or off. These modifications to DNA do not change the DNA sequence, but instead, they affect how cells read genes.” (Rettner 2013) Epigenetics is thought to possibly have a role in the development of some cancers. Since epigenetics modifies DNA, they can hide a growth, so to speak, or it can play a role in repairing the DNA’s damage. (Rettner 2013) If the changes are in the person’s sperm or egg cells, there is a possibility of that person’s children, or they’re children’s children, getting the modified DNA. (Rettner 2013) In a process called reprogramming, when the sperm and egg combine it allows the fetus to make its own epigenetic changes,
Researchers first thought the genes you receive from your parents are set in stone since they are made of a genetic code set in our DNA sequence;however, they are discovering that there is a second layer of structure that combines with DNA to decide whether or not a gene is active or not, called the epigenome. The epigenome consists of the DNA, histones, a protein DNA is wrapped around, and chemical tags. The epigenome alters the genetic code by directing signals. The signals come from the environment, which are reacted upon by epigenetic tags to turn a gene either on or off without affecting the DNA sequence. Certain things from our environment that send signals to epigenetic tags to change our genes in the epigenome includes the following:
The PBS video called “Epigenetics” brought to light some very interesting views. Through rats scientist have been able to see the works of epigenetics and believe that the finding have led to the idea that the change in genetics has the same effect on humans. The most interesting part of the video was that younger pairs of twins have very similar genes, but the older pairs of twin have more epigenetic difference in their genes. This validates the idea that the epigenetic difference in old twins is caused by environmental factors such as lifestyle choices. The idea also alludes to the idea that our parents and grandparents healthy and epigenetics may affect my heath and my children’s health. This leads to the inclination that my child’s health
However, the science of Epigenetics has linked wellbeing and health with our environment. I have a personal tie to this concept given that it impacted my sister. My family and I migrated from Iraq to Canada when I was 13 years of age. Coincidently, within one year of our settlement, my 18-year-old sister at the time started to show symptoms of schizophrenia and consequently was diagnosed with the disease. While I dig deeper and deeper into the subject, Epigenetics supports my theory that the transition had exposed my sister to a deeper psychosocial adversity which exploited her genetical predisposition to the disease. I am confident however that with the scientific research and development of epigenetics, scientists may be able to find ways to protect against heritable diseases and predispositions. We may ultimately take on an impactful roll in human development through epigenetic
What is epigenetics and where do they come from? Epigenetics precisely means “above or “on top of” genetics. This refers to outside changes to DNA that turns genes “on” or “off.” These alterations do not change the DNA sequence, but instead they modify how cells “read” genes. One example is DNA methylation. Rachael Rettner states that “this is an accumulation of a methyl group, or a chemical cap, to part of the DNA molecule that prevents certain genes from being expressed” (Rettner). Another example of epigenetics is histone modification. These are proteins that our DNA wrap their self around. If our bodies did not contain histones then our DNA would be too large to fits inside our cells.
Epigenetics can be hereditable or environmental factors that affect the expression of genes and lead to changes in gene expression. Unlike genetics, epigenetics does not only have to do with which genes are passed down to the offspring and the DNA sequence. The environmental conditions of the offspring’s parents impact the genes in their eggs and sperms by “switching on” certain genes and “switching of” others (Dowshen). Since the genes expression of the gametes are affect, the phenotypes of the offspring will change. Even in a person’s lifetime, environmental factors such as stress, chemical exposure, and diet can continue to impact gene expression through DNA methylation. During DNA methylation, a methyl group is randomly added to a 5-carbon cytosine ring, making 5-methylcytosine and these groups inhibit transcription. (Cheriyedath). Due the fact that transcription is not possible, the expressing of the genes in that section of the DNA strand will be suppressed. The attachment of the methyl group to DNA is not determined, which means that
This was an interesting and informative video, which talks about epigenetic. I would define epigenetic as a change in the observable physical traits of an organism without a change in the inherited genetic of a cell. In the video, there were people (twins) and rats as an example just to show and explain how epigenetic works, which is amazing. The twins’ participants in the video, look alike. Even though, their spotting image are incredible, they also have their differences. Like one of the twin asked an important question, which was if one of them has a disease, will it be possible for the other one to have the same disease and actually, there might be a chance for the other twin to develop the same disease, which shows me how mysterious epigenetic is.