Transcript Epigenetics 101: Why grandmothers are important

10th Annual Fall Conference
Lynn Ironside
OrOHC Board Vice-Chair
Darwin and Freud walk into a bar. Two alcoholic
mice—a mother and her son—sit on two bar stools,
lapping gin from two thimbles.
The mother mouse looks up and says, “Hey,
geniuses, tell me how my son got into this sorry
state.”
“Bad inheritance,” says Darwin.
“Bad mothering,” says Freud.
The “Hongerwinter”
The Great Chinese Famine
Genetics 101
Phenotype = measurable characteristic or trait
• Genotype = genetic
constitution of an
individual
• Gene = a section of DNA
that determines or
influences the
phenotype
Alleles = alternate forms of a gene
Hh
HH
hh
How did different alleles come into
existence?
“The capacity to blunder slightly is
the real marvel of DNA. Without this
special attribute, we would still be
anaerobic bacteria and there would
be no music.”
Lewis Thomas
The Lives of a Cell
DNA Packaging in the Nucleus
What is the Epigenome?
“What’s a liger?”
“It’s pretty much my favorite animal.”
Tigon
Father = tiger
Mother = lion
Liger
Father = lion
Mother = tiger
+ BPA
+ Folic acid
Vitamin B12
Choline
Betaine
Would you be a good mother rat?
Humans have a GR gene, too
Schizophrenia
REELIN
GLUTAMATE DECARBOXYLASE
Timing is everything
Exercise for as little as 20
minutes can create epigenetic
changes within 3 hours
….Particularly in genes
involved in muscle cell
metabolism and glucose
regulation
Alas, the effects are transient, lasting only a few hours 
More info on epigenetics…
• The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern
Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding of
Genetics, Disease, and Inheritance by Nessa
Carey (2012)
• http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/
• http://www.dnalc.org/
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/
body/epigenetics.html
• http://www.the-scientist.com/