Starting at a young age people are told why they look like their siblings and their parents; they inherit genes and a genome sequence at birth that are encoded with the information for eye color, hair color, and other features that make someone similar to their sibling over their best friend. These genes are passed on from generation to generation and shape how a family looks.
A new type of genome has come to light, the epigenome, which explains how cells that all start off the same with the same information become certain cells and explains differences that occur over time in family members based on how they took care of themselves. The epigenome can control which genes are being seen through methylation of the genes or using histones to control the proteins within DNA. Outside factors can cause the epigenome to change. Using identical twins, studies have shown how the epigenome plays a role.
Duke University and cancer centers around the world have looked at twins of all ages and compared their DNA. Studies show that at a younger age the DNA between identical twins is much more similar than the DNA of identical twins later in life. How the twins lived their lives affected their epigenome. Depending on how they ate, drank, worked, if they were stressed, if they lived in good environment, ended up affecting them a molecular level. This can explain why in some sets of twins one can get cancer and the other does not.
The epigenome can instruct genes to turn on or off and ultimately control the cell. This can cause normal cells to become cancerous. The bright light at the end of the tunnel here is that if the epigenome is turning genes off that need to be on to make a happy, healthy cell, through treatment it is possible to turn this genes back on because the epigenome is not permanent. Epigenetic therapy has been used in cancer treatments and has had some success.
Understanding the epigenome can offer solutions to questions and conditions that outlooks used to be grim. The epigenome also takes to a new level what it means to take care of oneself, because you are what you eat, and drink, and how you live.
Thanks to PBS and NOVA for information regarding the studies on epigenetics. For further information see the following link.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/epigenetics.html
Wow, I always wondered why twins could be so different. I would think that if we were to study the epigenome further, we could eventually get rid of predetermined illnesses that some people are told they will get later on in life. My question is why hasn't this already been done?
ReplyDeleteJohn: Good questions. Epigenetics is very new, and I don't think that we have developed very good tools for studying it. For instance, if we are studying nucleotide sequences (rather than patterns of methylation) we can use Polymerase Chain Reaction to make, like, bazillions of copies of genes, giving us much better signals from which to build chromatograms. PCR unfortunately doesn't preserve methylation patterns.
ReplyDeleteLindsay: Great opening post...any chance you want to take a look at methods used for studying methylation patterns and report back in your next post?
I found two articles last week, so I have an idea of what I want to write about this week. The second article I found discusses methylation in much more detail, how it is linked to epigenetics, so I think your suggestion of what methods are used to study methylation patterns is great and will keep it in mind for future posts!
DeleteI find this really interesting!! It amazes me that certain genes can be turned on or off based on various life experiences. I read several other articles and found that many scientist believe epigenetics is also playing a major role in other areas such as autism and diabetes. This research could possibly help in the treatment of certain diseases in the future, but it could also potentially help us to understand some preventative measures that might lower the probability of being at risk for a particular disease.
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