Through colorful anecdotes and commonsense explanations, author Richard C. Francis, who holds a Ph.D. in biology, delivers an engaging tour of the new science of epigenetics, the study of environmental
influences on gene expression.
It's possible that inherited regions of CNV with strong
influence on gene expression are targeted for amplification / deletion by cancer cells, which might obscure their effect in an otherwise normal cell.
Environment can have a strong
influence on genes in the womb and could account for differences in identical twins, according...
Lobo, Ingrid, Ph.D. «Environmental
Influences on Gene Expression.»
In her essay, she described how the interactions between genes and the environment affect human health and disease, concluding that these environmental
influences on gene activity allow people to protect their own well - being by cultivating healthy habits.
Not exact matches
In addition to the «subtle
influences» of our
genes on our behavior, our environment (or surrounding cultural norms and conditions) as well as our nurturing (i.e. upbringing, whom we choose to surround ourselves with and what we think about) is what really makes us who we are.
June 19, 2013 — A Cornell University study offers further proof that the divergence of humans from chimpanzees some 4 million to 6 million years ago was profoundly
influenced by mutations to DNA sequences that play roles in turning
genes on and off.
The organism draws its
genes from an enormously variegated
gene pool; it develops under the
influence of them and also under those of a probably pretty heterogeneous environment; and, at any given stage of its life, the way its
genes and its previous environment have acted up to that point may have considerable effect
on the nature of the environment to which it will next be subjected — if the animal does not like it here it may migrate someplace else, and so
on.
The human microbiome is the composite of
genes of the microorganisms (microbiota) living in and
on the human body that
influence the health and development of the host (1).
While every kids possibility of intelligence is formerly Pre-based
on his
genes, the amount of that potential the kid may use up is prejudiced by outer factors, like the
influence of oldsters, teachers and environments.
Epigenetics (literally «above the
gene») is a recent scientific development that examines how particular mechanisms can
influence whether certain
genes are turned off, turned
on, or modify a
gene's level of activity.
In this episode, psychiatric geneticist Laura Jean Bierut talks about her article in the April Scientific American about the
influence of
genes on alcoholism.
Delving into imprinting is also yielding insights into the scaffolding of the genome, and the ways in which parents put a stamp
on gene expression,
influencing health and disease in their children.
«Epigenetic» marks
on genes do not affect the information but do
influence gene activity, as the simplified diagrams below show.
Being able to precisely turn
on genes within an animal and
influence the animal's health is a «great advance,» Gersbach says.
They found that foster parents have a greater
influence on the personalities of fostered offspring than the
genes inherited from birth parents.
Stories
on what we can learn from
gene activity after death, and whether the sugar industry really
influenced U.S. nutrition policy
Even with this incredibly powerful technology the scientists have now, they are still coming up with these
genes that may or may not have a tiny, tiny
influence on intelligence.
EPIGENOME DEBUT Chemical modifications to DNA and histones can
influence how
genes are turned
on and off during development and in health and disease.
Gusella explains that the presence of two modifying variants
on chromosome 15 — one associated with symptoms appearing an average of six years early, the other associated with an average one - and - a-half-year delay — implies that there may be two actual modifying variants that both
influence one modifier
gene but in opposite directions.
In the teenage years, however, when youths typically become more independent,
genes have a much stronger
influence on altruism.
So Axel Visel of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California focused
on «enhancers»: short sequences of DNA — which are still sometimes called «junk» — that do not code for
genes but can
influence their activity.
-- that
influence when those various
genes are turned
on and off.
In this study, a team led by Panos N. Papapanou, DDS, PhD, professor and chair of oral, diagnostic and rehabilitation sciences at the College of Dental Medicine at CUMC, «reverse - engineered» the
gene expression data to build a map of the genetic interactions that lead to periodontitis and identify individual
genes that appear to have the most
influence on the disease.
Instead phrases like «the scrub jay wants to do this, decides that this is the right time,» and so
on, are shorthand for the more correct but cumbersome, «Over the course of evolution, scrub jays who, at least in part through genetically
influenced mechanisms, are better able to optimize the timing of their behavior leave more copies of their
genes, thus making this attribute more prevalent in the population.»
Alternatively, epigenetic changes — changes in the way
genes are switched
on and off —
influencing key
genes, induced by sex hormones, may be responsible.
Jirtle is well known for his work
on mice that carry the agouti
gene, which is highly vulnerable to environmental
influences.
Our life experiences exert a profound
influence on how we age and can even alter the ways
genes function without changing the underlying DNA sequence; these genetic changes are called epigenetic traits.
The authors went
on to determine where, spatially, this
gene acted to
influence courtship acceptance of the female fly.
The tests and scans revealed that variation in the genetic code of
genes known as ARVCF and FADS2
influenced the risk of brain injury
on MRI in the babies.
He figured out how the pairs of
genes interact to
influence the organism, depending
on whether the pair have identical or differing messages.
The use of twins, identical and fraternal, allowed researchers to control for the
influences of
genes and environment
on the development of heart disease and PTSD.
The researchers don't yet know how exactly these
genes influence social behavior in either bees or people, but manipulating the
genes in honey bees may shed light
on what they do in humans, says Alan Packer, a geneticist at the Simons Foundation in New York City, which funds autism research, including this bee work.
Booij and her colleagues hope that this study will shed more light
on the specific role of early environmental
influences on brain development,
gene expression and emotional regulation.
Studying how
genes affect different drugs manufactured by different companies gives Poirier greater
influence on future drug development, he feels, which would not be possible if he was employed at any one pharmaceutical research lab.
Published in Nature Neuroscience, this new study lends support to the direct
influence on creativity of
genes found in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
And the new study gives little information
on what the
genes might be that
influence test scores.
Differences in the ability of a particular
gene to
influence a child's development depending
on who it was inherited from, have been seen in a number of disorders, including Huntington's disease and fragile - X syndrome («Why
genes have a gender», New Scientist, 22 May 1993).
A further mystery is whether the order of
genes on a chromosome and the spacing between them
influence their functions.
By comparing
genes of long - and short - lived rodents, researchers from Leibniz Institute
on Aging (FLI) in Jena / Germany now identified in a collaborative project several novel
genes possibly
influencing longevity and healthy aging in mammals.
«Our age has a crucial
influence on the effects of psychiatric risk
genes.
These loops, whose fluid shapes Dekker likens to «snakes all curled up,» reveal previously unseen ways that the genome's large - scale architecture might
influence how specific
genes turn
on and off, said Miriam Huntley, a doctoral student at Harvard University and a co-author of theCell article.
Beyond offering further proof that single
genes can have dramatic
influences on longevity, an idea that drew skepticism just a decade ago, the new finding may help scientists explain how severely reducing calorie intake extends life span in a variety of animals (SN: 11/25/00, p. 341: Low - cal diet may reduce cancer in monkeys).
When the toddler son of peaceniks pines for a toy army truck, she argues, he is expressing an inborn tendency toward active, physical play that has been shaped by social
influences, not by the effects of a «gun
gene»
on the Y chromosome.
Stories
on how the planet would react to the collapse of a humanmade solar shield, and the
influence of our parents»
genes on us — even when we don't inherit them
Harmful chemicals, stress and other
influences can permanently alter which
genes are turned
on without changing any of the
genes» code.
A study published
on December 11th in PLOS Pathogens reports that genetic variants in a
gene called IL - 28B
influence influenza vaccine responses.
Perera turned the full beam of her attention
on Tycko as he explained how the cord - blood samples showed that the
gene's activity varied and that it varied in ways that suggested the differences were not random but environmentally
influenced.
Noriko Osumi, Kaichi Yoshizaki and colleagues at Tohoku University's Graduate School of Medicine collaborated with Shigeru Wakana and Tamio Furuse at RIKEN Bio-Resource Center, and Tucci Valter at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, to conduct comprehensive behavioral analyses
on how paternal aging
influences the behavior of offspring that inherit a genetic risk (a mutation in Pax6
gene).
«GECCO aims to continue to discover additional colorectal cancer - related variants by investigating how genetic variants are modified by other environmental and lifestyle risk factors, including biomarkers as well as how they
influence patient treatment response and survival,» Peters said, emphasizing how much further research is required to uncover the specific mechanisms by which
genes modulate the intake of certain foods
on colorectal cancer risk.