the scientific base of epigenetics and its reflections on wellbeing.
the dna genetic code consists of a defined sequence of four nucleotide bases (thymine, guanine, adenine, cytosine) and the sequence of these bases brings life-long projects on earth. it is evident that this sequence information alone is not sufficient to explain how a multicellular organism can establish specialized cells such as the 200 types of known cells of a human body. For this, a second information layer is required and, for some years now, it is evident that this information layer is strongly based on chemistry. histones, dna and rnaare the goal of a sophisticated chemical modification, which establishes a second level of information, which decodes this chemical code on RNA, in particular on messenger RNA. more than 150 chemical derivatives of RNA nucleosides are known and many others await discovery. It is therefore essential to study the modifications of the RNA and to decipher its function.
Since some of the modified bases provide RNA with a still unknown reactivity, we need to try to understand the functional aspects of the reactive bases, which allow us to tackle some of the most important issues associated with the RNA world theory. these studies in the new field of RNA epigenetics have the potential to become the next great wave of innovation in science 63 years after the discovery of the DNA double helix structure.
analysis & data
According to Professor Thomas Carell of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, evolution could therefore be based partly on environmental adaptation and not only on random mutations, reopening a centuries-old debate between Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.
Epigenetic mapping has the potential to release your entire being from genetic limitations and opens up new wellness and performance possibilities. A process known as epigenetics studies the way in which our genes are activated and deactivated during our lifetime.
DNA has been considered a closed and stable system of static information storage, but in recent years a second genetic code has been discovered in DNA (epigenetic). There are always the four base pairs of DNA (of C, T G and A). Their sequence is like hardware, but now we know that the software is at the top and interprets this information.
Chemically speaking, it does so by changing and putting chemical signals on the cytosine base pairs (the C in our code), called CpG Islands.
The unique DNA sequence is still correct and is the same string of DNA bases in all cells. But this is not true for epigenetic information, which overlaps with the genetic information of the DNA sequence. So the expression of the genome is not static, but dynamic because it changes driven by epigenetic signals, but still most people do not yet know that this second level of information exists.
various cells & different functions
the various types of cells in our body have a different appearance and different functions. To become a cell of the skin or a neuron, in the passage of information written in the DNA of a cell to RNA, with a mechanism called protein synthesis that serves the production of specific proteins, the RNA carries out the instructions of the DNA, but it is controlled by epigenetic signals that turn off or light up certain genes. The epigenetic chemical signals act as switches, these places in front of the genes not only can activate or deactivate the genes, but they act to tune and make them functional, they change the levels of activity of the genes in sending instructions to produce proteins. There are more types of these signals, some mean stopping, others mean continuing, but others can change genetic activity in a more subtle way.
Darwinian theory holds that evolution is based on random mutations that give certain organisms an advantage in terms of fitness, allowing them to proliferate. Lamarck proposed instead that evolution could follow certain paths, so that if an organ becomes particularly important (for an organism), it can be strengthened in the next generation.
'Darwin won the debate on the basis that mutations can occur by chance and become stable, bringing an advantage or a disadvantage for survival. No mechanism had been found to support Lamarck's ideas. Currently these new epigenetic dynamic switches, recently known, could reopen the debate and give an explanation on how the environment could influence our genetics and reopen the Lamarck theory based on the knowledge of epigenetics.
epigenetic hair mapping canada
Epigenetics - the study of these chemical signals - is of enormous importance for the evolution of medicine. By better understanding these dynamic switches, we may be able to reactivate genes that allow us to regenerate damaged tissues, even organs. "Are there any situations where DNA flags are particularly important?" Our neurons form connections when we learn, and branched dendrites (the branches of a neuron) help to store memories. To grow new dendrites, we need to activate certain genes, and once again these epigenetic signals do this and prepare the body for learning.
Another example comes from the beginning of life. The genes in the spermatozoon and in the oocyte are mostly in a silent state, but when they are combined in fertilization a huge number of genes are activated and the switching on and off of these must be strictly controlled to obtain the foetal sequence in development pathway (embryogenesis) and, again, it is the epigenetic chemical signals that do this.
Above From Carell, Vermeulen Cell 2013; Carell Nat. Chem. Biol. 2014.
