Epigenetics Book: The Most Comprehensive Exploration of the Practical, Social and Ethical Impact of DNA on Our Society and Our World

By Roy Carroll

You Are About To Develop An Insider Understanding Of Epigenetics, Including Their Relationship With The DNA, Environmental Factors, Human Development And Evolution; Their Role In Human Mental And Physical Health, Including Their Use In The Treating Of Different Conditions And Diseases Along With The Most Current Epigenetic Practices And Research!

What started as a broad research focused on combining genetics and developmental biology during the mid-twentieth century has evolved into the field we currently refer to as epigenetics- the mechanism of gene control that can either promote or repress gene expression without altering the genetic coding of the organism.

Today, we know that the environment factors and individual lifestyles can have a direct interaction with epigenetic change, which can be reflected at various stages throughout the life of an individual and even in the later generations.

You've heard that a mother's exposure to pollution can affect her child's asthma susceptibility, haven't you?

No?

How about the argument that a child's mental fitness can be (epigenetically) influenced by his/her dad's diet?

Epigenetic change, which has nothing to do with the changes to the underlying DNA sequence, does affect how cells read genes and this biological change is influenced by several factors which include environment, lifestyle and health state through a mechanisms including a popular one known as DNA methylation.

But what is the relationship between the epigenetic change and physical and physiological conditions as regards to their onset and improvement?

How are epigenetic modifications being used to understand our environment, society and increasing human adaptation?

How exactly do epigenetic therapies work?

How does DNA affect epigenetic changes?

How can we exploit epigenetic mechanisms to understand life better and improve it?

If you have these and other related questions, this book is for you.

More precisely, you will learn:

What epigenetics are and their role in developmental psychology

The influence of epigenetics at the molecular level and the impact of DNA damage in epigenetic change

How epigenetics are studied

The functions and consequences of epigenetics, and their specific benefits in mindfulness training, healthy eating and physical activity

How genes control the growth and division of cells

The role of epigenetic therapy in diabetic retinopathy, emotional disorders, cardiac dysfunction, cancer and schizophrenia and many more

How epigenetic modifications are used in cancer treatment, and plant and animal evolution

How epigenetic mechanisms are used in processes including human adaptation, memory formation, growth and infant neuro-behavior.

How epigenetic mechanisms are used in maternal care

How environmental chemical exposures affect epigenetics

The role of epigenetics in neurodegenerative diseases, drug formation, human development, the development of Hox genes and many more

The role of environmental exposures in pathophysiology of IPF

Modulation of epigenetic marks by environmental exposures

How epigenetic regulation affects the immune system

…And so much more!

So if you've been exposed to the concept of epigenetics as a novel way of understanding disorders, inheritance and evolution and wondered what it's really all about and how it's related with environmental exposure and different therapy practices, this book is all you need!

Scroll up and click Buy Now With 1-Click or Buy Now to get started!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Youcanprint
• Release date: Jan 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9791220372398

Book preview

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Epigenetics Book

The Most Comprehensive

Exploration of the Practical, Social

and Ethical Impact of DNA on Our

Society and Our World

Roy Carroll

Copyright All rights reserved.

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Chapter One

About Epigenetics

In biology, epigenetics is the study

of heritable phenotype changes that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix epi- over, outside of, around) in epigenetics implies features that are on top of" or

in addition to the traditional genetic basis for inheritance. Epigenetics most often involves changes that affect gene activity and expression, but the term can also be used to describe any heritable phenotypic change. Such effects on cellular and physiological phenotypic traits may result from external or environmental factors, or be part of normal development. The standard definition of epigenetics requires these alterations to be heritable in the progeny of either cells or organisms.

The term also refers to the changes themselves: functionally relevant changes to the genome that do not involve a change in the nucleotide sequence. Examples of mechanisms that produce such changes are DNA methylation and histone modification, each of which alters how genes are expressed without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Gene expression can be controlled through the action of repressor proteins that attach to silencer regions of the DNA. These epigenetic changes may last through cell divisions for the duration of the cell's life, and may also last for multiple generations, even though they do not

involve changes in the underlying DNA sequence of the organism; instead, non-genetic factors cause the organism's genes to behave (or express themselves) differently.

One example of an epigenetic change in eukaryotic biology is the process of cellular differentiation.

During morphogenesis, totipotent stem cells become the various pluripotent cell lines of the embryo, which in turn become fully differentiated cells. In other words, as a single fertilized egg cell – the zygote – continues to divide, the resulting daughter cells change into all the different cell types in an organism, including neurons, muscle

cells, epithelium, endothelium of blood vessels, etc., by activating some genes while inhibiting the expression of others.

Historically, some phenomena not necessarily heritable have also been described as epigenetic. For example, the term

epigenetic has been used to describe any modification of chromosomal regions, especially histone modifications, whether or not these changes are heritable or associated with a phenotype. The consensus definition now requires a trait to be heritable for it to be considered epigenetic.

The term epigenetics in its contemporary usage emerged in the 1990s, but for some years has been used with somewhat variable meanings. A consensus definition of the concept of epigenetic trait as a "stably heritable phenotype resulting from changes in a

chromosome without alterations in the DNA sequence" was formulated at a Cold Spring Harbor meeting in 2008, although alternate definitions that include non-heritable traits are still being used.

The term epigenesis has a generic meaning of extra growth, and has been used in English since the 17th century.

Developmental psychology

In a somewhat different context to its usage in biological sciences, the word epigenetic has often been used in developmental psychology to define psychological growth as a product of a constant, bi-directional interaction between heredity and the environment. Interactive theories about creation have been explored in numerous ways and under multiple titles in the 19th and 20th centuries. An early edition, among the founding statements of embryology, was suggested by Karl Ernst von Baer and popularized by Ernst Haeckel. Paul Wintrebert has developed a progressive epigenetic dream (physiological epigenesis). Another form, probabilistic epigenesis, was described in 2003 by Gilbert Gottlieb. This perspective covers all potential evolutionary effects on the organism and how they affect not just the organism and each other, but also how the organism affects its own growth.

Erik Erik Erikson, a developmental psychologist, wrote about the epigenetic concept in his 1968 book Identity: Youth and Crisis, which incorporates the idea that we grow through the evolution of our personalities in fixed phases, and that our atmosphere and underlying society affect how we advance through these phases. This biological evolution in relation to our socio-cultural environments takes place at the level of psychosocial progression, where progress in each level is partially decided by our performance or lack of success in all previous stages. While empiric experiments have produced varying findings, epigenetic changes are believed to be a biological trigger for transgenerational trauma.

Molecular basis

Epigenetic shifts affect the function of other genes, but not the DNA gene code chain. The microstructure (not the code) of DNA itself or the related chromatin proteins can be changed, resulting in activation or silencing. This process enables segregated cells in a multicellular organism to produce only the genes required for their own activity. Epigenetic variations are retained as the cells separate. Some epigenetic modifications arise only over the lifespan of an adult organism; nevertheless, these epigenetic changes may be passed to the descendants of the organism by a mechanism called transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. In fact, if gene inactivation happens in a

sperm or egg cell that results in fertilization, this epigenetic alteration can often be passed to the next generation.

Different epigenetic mechanisms include paramuting, bookmarking, imprinting, gene silencing, X-chromosome inactivation, positioning influence, reprogramming of DNA methylation, transvection, maternal results, advancement in carcinogenesis, a broad variety of teratogenic effects, histone and heterochromatin control, and technological constraints concerning parthenogenesis and cloning.

DNA damage

DNA damage may also induce epigenetic changes.[25][26][27]

DNA damage is very normal, occurring on average around 60,000 times a day per human body cell (see DNA damage (naturally occurring). These damages are mostly remedied, but epigenetic modifications can remain at the DNA repair site. In particular, a double-stranded DNA split will cause unprogrammed epigenetic gene silencing both by inducing DNA methylation and by facilitating the silencing of histone alteration forms (Chromatin remodeling-see next section). In addition, the enzyme Parp1 (poly(ADP)-ribose polymerase) and its component poly(ADP)-ribose (PAR) accumulate at DNA damage sites as part of the repair phase. Such aggregation, in effect, drives recruitment and activation of the ALC1 chromatin remodeling protein that may induce nucleosome remodeling.

Nucleosome remodeling has been shown to induce, for example,

epigenetic silencing of the MLH1 DNA repair gene. DNA harmful chemicals, such as benzene, hydroquinone, styrene, carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethylene, cause considerable hypomethylation of DNA, some through the triggering of oxidative stress pathways.

Foods are known to change the epigenetics of rats in various diets. Some food components epigenetically raise the amount of DNA repair enzymes, such as MGMT and MLH1 and p53. Other food components, such as soy isoflavones, may reduce DNA damage. In one test, oxidative stress indicators, such as changed nucleotides that may result from DNA injury, were reduced by a 3-week diet complemented with soy. Decreased oxidative DNA damage was also detected 2 h after anthocyanin-rich bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillius L.) extract of pomace was eaten.

Techniques used to study epigenetics

Epigenetic work utilizes a broad variety of molecular biological methods to better explain epigenetic processes, including chromatin immunoprecipitation (together with its large-scale versions ChIP-on-chip and ChIP-Seq), fluorescent in situ hybridization, methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes, DNA adenine methyltransferase recognition (DamID) and bisulphite sequencing. In fact, the application of bioinformatics has a role to play in statistical epigenetics.

Mechanisms Some