Epigenome

IDENTICAL TWINS: PINPOINTING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ON THE EPIGENOME:

Twins develop differently because of their environment. Such as stress, the more amount or less amount of stress is put on you determines the changes to your genome by using epigenetic tags,which turn genes on or off. Another environmental factor is toxins. If you are a twin and you smoke but your twin doesn't then that will also leave your genome different. Another factor that changes your genome is your athleticism, meaning the more or less active you are. Like choosing TV over going out for a jog, or vice-versa. Others are-toxins, such as smoking, and diet. At birth twins have the same genome, but the do changes as time goes on.

LICK YOUR RATS:

This part was about the amount of nurture a rat mother gave her pups. If she licked her pups continually then they grew up to be calm, but if she did not lick her pups then they will grow up to be anxious. This happens because the licking turns not the GR gene, this creates GR protein, which relaxes the pup.

NUTRITION & THE EPIGENOME:

Methyl groups are a type of epigenetic tag that silences a one or more genes. If a diet is high in methyl-doanting nutrients then the gene expression can be rapidly altered. This can happen at any age but specifically during the earlier stages of life when your epigenome is being developed. Depending on what a mother rat ate her offspring looked different. If she had a diet of highly methylated food then the rat would have brown fur but if the mother's diet wasn't methylates then the pup would be born with yellow fur and keep yellow fur for the rest of its life. The gene called agouti that determines it. When a pregnant yellow rat was fed BPA it continued to have unhealthy yellow rats but when the yellow,BPA exposed mother was fed a highly methylated diet is had brown mice. A study showed that the food amount that a grand father had affected the life-span of his grandchildren. Less food equaled longer life, and more food equaled shorter life.

EPIGENETICS & THE HUMAN BRAIN:

Genetic abuse leaves an epigenetic mark on the brain. The protein CBP is what activates the learning and memory genes.In schizophrenic brains REELIN has less methyl. Some of the drugs used to treat the mentally ill do their job by changing gene expressions. Some drugs make epigenetic changes that could effect hundreds of genes, some of these epigenetic changes stay even when the drug has been cleared from the body.