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Epigenetics What is Epigenetics? • The study of changes in gene activity that do not have to do with changes in actual DNA o Abnormal traits that (as far as we know) are not necessarily determined in our genes or have no specific gene but are passed down through at least one generation • Often relating to Nature vs. Nurture What is an Epigenome? • A large aspect of Epigenetics o A "switch" that sits on and just outside of a regular genome is responsible for the inheritance of traits caused by environment • The codes on Epigenomes tell genes whether to turn on or off • Epigenomes determine small things o Whether we whisper or talk loudly • Or more important things o Immunity to disease o Obesity o Memory What is an Epigenome? • Although the Epigenome can greatly affect normal genomes, it is not evolution or DNA • It only adjusts genes, it does not get rid of them or add new ones • Just a response to enviornment and fades after a certain number of generations (But generations can be from 160+) Effects of Epigenomes • They are affected by certain life style choices o Smoking o Eating habits • When they are changed, they can cause certain genes to turn on or be stronger or can cause genes to become weaker or turn off o Eating to much might cause genes for obesity to become stronger while turning genes that control life expectancy down Experiment • Dr. Lars Olov Bygren conducted an experiment where he collected data from kids born in 1905 who grew up in Norrbotten, Sweden o Small farming village So small that if harvest was bad people starved o Harvest was different year to year (to much--too little) • Bygren collected data on these kids, their children, and grandchildren to see what affect this eating pattern would have on them Experiment • Bygren found that kids who had extreme eating habits had kids and grandchildren who lived shorter lives o These kids died an average of 32 years before children who had not experienced this diet • A separate Experiment where 14,024 pregnant women from the same area were recruited by ALSPC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) • The children and parents have been analyzed since o Found that specific enviorment conditions in pregnancy and durring infancy affect children Peanut baby oil--peanut allergies High anxiety durring pregnancy--baby gets asthma Children kept extremely clean--higher risk of eczema Experiment • The experiment also found that 166 fathers in the study had started smoking before age 11 (right before the body goes through puberty) o Sperm could have been effected by epigenomes, changed by the early smoking • Sons of the 166 fathers on average had a higher BMI than other children Medical Advantages • Scientist are further researching Epigenetics because, if they are able to be controlled, it would be helpful in the medical world o Trying to develop medicine that is able to turn off a negative epigenome and turn on a positive one 2004--the first epigenetic drug was approved Azacitidine Treats deadly blood tumors/cancers etc. Life expectancy is expanded by 9 months+ • Scientists are trying to develop other medicines that manipulate epigenomes for Cancer, Schizophrenia, Autism, Alzheimers, Diabetes, etc. Acknowledgments • http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,19519 68-4,00.html • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3411/02.ht ml