Home
Rudy Garns's Library tagged → View Popular, Search in Google
-
Through epigenetic alterations, our genomes retain something like a memory of the environmental signals received during the lifetimes of our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and perhaps even more distant ancestors.
-
Grandfathers who lived their preteen years during times of plenty were more likely to have grandsons with diabetes—an ailment that doubled the grandsons' risk of early death.
- 2 more annotation(s)...
-
The licked newborns grew up to be relatively brave and calm (for rats). The neglected newborns grew into the sort of rodents that nervously skitter into the darkest corner when placed in a new environment.
-
After analyzing the brain tissue of both licked and nonlicked rats, the researchers found distinct differences in the DNA methylation patterns in the hippocampus cells of each group
- 5 more annotation(s)...
-
When genes that typically act to suppress tumors are methylated, the tumors metastasize.
-
epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenol from green tea, can prevent deleterious methylation dimmer switches from landing on (and shutting down) certain cancer-fighting genes.
- 3 more annotation(s)...
-
According to a recent field called epigenetics, there is a third factor also in play, one that in some cases serves as a bridge between the environment and our genes, and in others operates on its own to shape who we are.
-
A person's height, for example, is often estimated at 0.8, meaning that 80 percent of the differences in height among individuals in a specific population are due to differences in their genetic makeups.
- 11 more annotation(s)...
"What the new field of epigenetics reveals about how DNA really works."
-
A cell's identity doesn't arise from a preordained genetic recipe inside it. Crucially, it is the cues that a cell gets from neighboring cells that affect how the genes inside it behave.
-
The epigenetic quest is to discover how chemical attachments to genes shape the fate of an animal by altering the genes' long-term expression.
- 6 more annotation(s)...
First, epigenetically inherited changes in DNA and protein, like methylated bits of DNA, ultimately rest on “normal” mutations in DNA that affect those changes. Things get methylated because the nucleotide bases in DNA code for that methylation. Second, the epigenetic modifications are, in nearly all cases, not inherited past one or two generations, so they can’t serve as lasting templates for evolutionary change. Insofar as those changes are important in evolution, they must ultimately reside in DNA, the genetic material. Finally, those who tout the importance of epigenetics in evolution, most notably Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb, keep trotting out the same handful of tired examples, like changes in toadflax and mouse coat color, that are inherited only temporarily and have nothing to do with evolution.
-
stuff like methylation is an “acquired” characteristic that can be passed on for one or a few generations. But it’s acquired via genetic instructions in the DNA, and it’s inherited only for a handful of generations. So, while important, it’s not a dramatic new paradigm of genetics.
The study was directed by Margaret Morris, an obesity researcher at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Morris had previously explored the reasons why the children of obese mothers often become overweight themselves. But her attention shifted when a new graduate student from Malaysia arrived in her laboratory.
The push to show that epigenetics can translate early life experiences into lasting changes in behavior has been accompanied by a parallel surge of interest in how chemical modifications to DNA can affect cognition. -- Miller 329 (5987): 27 -- Science
Could chemical changes to DNA underlie some of society's more vexing problems? Or is this hot new field getting ahead of itself? -- Miller 329 (5987): 24 -- Science
The difference between one personality and another is not determined by genes alone. Love’s got something to do with it too.
To provide an extra dimension to coverage in the 10 August 2001 special issue, we're launching a new epigenetics section here on the Science Functional Genomics Web site. On this page, you'll find a collection of links to interesting Web resources on chromatin, methylation, imprinting, and a variety of other topics with an epigenetics bend. Also, we've gathered together a selection some groundbreaking research papers, Reviews, and Perspectives published in Science over the past five years, in a special new epigenetics section of our Functional Genomics Research Archive.
Reviewed by Bernhard Haubold, Fachhochschule Weihenstephan,
Germany
Lamarck proposed two mechanisms of evolutionary change: an inherent tendency in living matter to become increasingly more complex and the inheritance of acquired characteristics — environmentally induced or learned individual adaptations that accrue over time and pass to offspring. Many biologists at the time, including Darwin himself, believed such “soft” inheritance was complementary to the theory of natural selection.
So what exactly is epigenetics? On a recent meeting (last December) on chromatin-based epigenetics, hosted by the Banbury Conference Center (a beautiful place) and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, several aspects of epigenetic control of gene expression and function were discussed and there was an intent to arrive at a consensus definition of epigenetics to be considered by the broader community.
Selected Tags
Related Tags
Top Contributors
Groups interested in epigenet...
-
Research papers
Items: 14 | Visits: 5
Created by: Jose M Perez
-
Psy105-Chapter04 - nature-nurture
matters related to behaviora...
Items: 134 | Visits: 16
Created by: Carol Furchner
Diigo is about better ways to research, share and collaborate on information. Learn more »
Join Diigo