EPIGENETICS
epigenetics.
5/18/20247 min read
Four Main Epigenetic Mechanisms which MODIFY effects oF GENETIC ACTION DNA methylation, Histone modification, Chromatin remodelling, Noncoding RNA (ncRNA) HOW WE GET EPIGENETIC AGENTS
What is an example of epigenetic formation? Epigenetic changes begin before you are born. All your cells have the same genes but look and act differently. As you grow and develop,overlying epigenetic modification helps determine which function a cell will have, for example, whether it will become a heart cell, nerve cell, or skin cell. How does epigenetics affect generations?
One can think of it this way: genetics concerns "which" genes a child gets while epigenetics concerns "changes" to those genes. Two siblings may have the same gene but due to epigenetics the gene might express one way in one child and a different way in the other.
What are the top 3 influences for epigenetics in the human?
Increasing evidence shows that environmental and lifestyle factors may influence epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNA expression. Why is epigenetics so controversial? Several social scientists have criticized how epigenetic research treats the social, environmental, and temporal modulators of disease (risk and etiology).
Among these critical scholars, there is a fear of novel forms of reductionism in epigenetics that are no less worrying than those attributed to genetics.
How many generations do epigenetic changes last? In a pregnant mother, three generations are directly exposed to the same environmental conditions at the same time. An epigenetic effect that continues into the 4th generation could be inherited and not due to direct exposure. Why do traits skip a generation? Some of these genes may be dominant, meaning they express themselves even if only one copy is present, while others may be recessive, meaning they only express themselves if two copies are present. This can lead to situations where a behavioural trait appears to skip a generation.
Are epigenetic marks inherited?
Recent evidence has indicated that certain epigenetic marks can be inherited, and reshape developmental and cellular features over generations. This review examines the challenging possibility that epigenetic changes induced by environmental factors can contribute to some of the inheritance of disease and disease risk.
There are even studies suggesting that such epigenetic marks can be passed down from parents to their children and even their grandchildren, priming them to behave in a certain way in response to experiences that their ancestors had.
Are epigenetic marks permanent?
,They only activate or deactivate the expression of genetic traits in the DNA and can be undone. Therefore although some epigenetic changes can be inherited they are are not necessarily permanent because they do not do not change the basic DNA. the development of epigenetic biomarkers of disease often pulls in a different direction. Specifically, one that departs from a complex and socially embedded view of biology.
Let us again take the example of cardiovascular conditions. No doubt, epigenetic information can have an immediate impact on disease management. Epigenetic biomarkers are already at the forefront of clinical applications in precision cardiology . These markers promise to contribute to patient diagnosis, prognosis, theragnosis, and therapy in several cardiovascular conditions—such as coronary artery disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, acute myocardial infarction, and heart failure .
Several social scientists have criticized how epigenetic research treats the social, environmental, and temporal modulators of disease (risk and etiology). Among these critical scholars, there is a fear of novel forms of reductionism in epigenetics that are no less worrying than those attributed to genetics. What if, critics ask, more than non-gene-centric biology, epigenetics turned out to be the science of a miniaturized and molecular version of the environment ? Its insights and implications for an environmentally embedded view of health cannot be fully grasped if this science reduces biosocial loops to either methylation risk scores alone, or to “the effects [on human bodies] of proximate variables”
Can epigenetic markers be changed? Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.
Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence. What are examples of epigenetic modifications? Today, this term is used to refer to heritable alterations that are not due to changes in DNA sequence. Rather, epigenetic modifications, or “tags,” such as DNA methylation and histone modification, alter DNA accessibility and chromatin structure, thereby regulating patterns of gene expression. Can epigenetics be manipulated? As such epigenetic manipulation makes for an attractive therapeutic target as it allows for a reversible modification in host gene expression. Schematic representation of the main epigenetic mechanisms.
How do you detect epigenetic marks?
Immunoprecipitation assays such as ChIP or co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) can be highly effective means of assessing the functions of epigenetic modulators.
For example, ChIP analysis using antibodies specific to MeCPs has been used to identify new sites of DNA hypermethylation during oncogenesis [25].Oct 18, 2007
What is the most accurate epigenetic test? To address this, the team developed a new, more accurate epigenetic clock – the Glasgow-Karolinska Clock – that works on healthy and unhealthy tissue. The results from this new clock matched what doctors saw in patients with chronic kidney disease, and also appeared to accurately assess healthy tissue too.Oct 13, 2023 How do you test for epigenetics?
Key epigenetic techniques
DNA methylation analysis. Investigate methylation patterns quantitatively across the genome using sequencing- and array-based techniques. DNA–protein interaction analysis. Gain insight into DNA–protein interactions. ... Chromatin accessibility analysis.
EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS
EPIGENETICS REFERENCES
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3107542/
https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/inheritance
https://openpress.usask.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/epigenetics-in-psychology/
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/epigenomics-the-new-tool-in-studying-complex-694/
https://www.nature.com/articles/hdy201054
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfT_XIYHOnM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrqmuYvk3iQ the beginning
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMbrASDmXXk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMbrASDmXXk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGXL2xAUqnY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IAHjZ3AFcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz7ApvE89LE
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgERHur3FMQ&t=193s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aAhcNjmvhc
EPIGENETICS REFERENCES
The term, “epigenetics,” was first used to refer to the complex interactions between the genome and the environment that are involved in development and differentiation in higher organisms. Today, this term is used to refer to heritable alterations that are not due to changes in DNA sequence. Rather, epigenetic modifications, or “Tags,” such as DNA methylation and histone modification, alter DNA accessibility and chromatin structure, thereby regulating patterns of gene expression.
The term "epigenetics" was introduced in 1942 by embryologist Conrad Waddington, who, relating it to the 17th century concept of "epigenesis", defined it as the complex of developmental processes between the genotype and phenotype. Unlike the genome, which is essentially identical in all cells of a vertebrate and stable throughout the life-time of an individual, the epigenome differs from cell to cell and is plastic, changing with time and with exposure to the environment . In the complete set of DNA in a cell (genome), all of the modifications that regulate the activity (expression) of the genes is known as the epigenome. Because epigenetic changes help determine whether genes are turned on or off, they influence the production of proteins in cells
These processes are crucial to normal development and differentiation of distinct cell lineages in the adult organism. They can be modified by exogenous influences, and, as such, can contribute to or be the result of environmental alterations of phenotype or pathophenotype Epigenetic variation is often characterized by modifications to DNA that do not alter the underlying nucleotide sequence, but can influence behavior, morphology, and physiological phenotypes by affecting gene expression and protein synthesis.
The epigenome appears to be particularly vulnerable to environmental influences during certain stages of development (cleavage, perinatal period, puberty) and alterations in gene expression patterns induced at these times may persist for long periods, influencing the phenotype of the adult. Such long-term changes in gene expression patterns represent an attractive molecular basis for the hypothesis that the origin of adult disease lies in environmental exposure events during an individual's pre- or post-natal development. For this reason, research into the epigenetic regulation of gene expression will continue unabated.
Epigenetic changes enable different adult cells to express specific genes that are required for the existence of each cell type and transfer of information to the daughter cells.Lifestyle includes different factors such as nutrition, behavior, stress, physical activity, working habits, smoking and alcohol consumption. Environmental and lifestyle factors may influence epigenetic mechanisms.stressful life circumstances, which leave a unique epigenetic “signature” on the genes. These signatures can be temporary or permanent and both types affect how easily the genes are switched on or off.
Epigenetics explains how early experiences can have lifelong impacts. The genes children inherit from their biological parents provide information that guides their development. For example, how tall they could eventually become or the kind of temperament they could have.
One example of an epigenetic change mechanism is DNA methylation — the addition of a methyl group, or a "chemical cap," to part of the DNA molecule, which prevents a certain gene from being expressed. Another example is histone modification. Histones are proteins that DNA strands wraps around.
Epigenetic processes, including DNA methylation and histone modification, are thought to influence gene expression chiefly at the level of transcription; however, other steps in the process (for example splicing and translation) may also be regulated epigenetically.The regulation on gene expression by epigenetics is similar to that by transcription factors (TFs), and the normal execution of biological event is controlled by a combination of epigenetic modifications and TFs.
BRIEF VIDEO INTRODUCTION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgERHur3FMQ
EPIGENETICS
