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- The Condemned Live Longer: A Potential Paradigm Shift in Genetics
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- Chronobiology – How the Cold Seasons Influence Our Biorhythms
- Taskforce Microbots: Targeted Treatment from Inside the Body
- Eyes on Cancer Therapy
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- Challenges and Chances: A Review of the 1st Stem Cell Community Day
- Summertime, and the Livin’ Is Easy…
- Follow-on-Biologics – More than Simple Generics
- Bacteria Versus Body Cells: A 1:1 Tie
- Behind the Crime Scene: How Biological Traces Can Help to Convict Offenders
- Every 3 Seconds Someone in the World Is Affected by Alzheimer's
- HIV – It’s Still Not Under Control…
- How Many Will Be Convicted This Time?
- Malaria – the Battle is Not Lost
- Physicians on Standby: The Annual Flu Season Can Be Serious
- At the Forefront in Fighting Cancer
- Molecular Motors: Think Small and yet Smaller Again…
- Liquid Biopsy: Novel Methods May Ease Cancer Detection and Therapy
- They Are Invisible, Sneaky and Disgusting – But Today It’s Their Special Day!
- How Many Cells Are in Your Body? Probably More Than You Think!
- What You Need to Know about Antibiotic Resistance – Findings, Facts and Good Intentions
- Why Do Old Men Have Big Ears?
- The Condemned Live Longer: A Potential Paradigm Shift in Genetics
- From Research to Commerce
- Chronobiology – How the Cold Seasons Influence Our Biorhythms
- Taskforce Microbots: Targeted Treatment from Inside the Body
- Eyes on Cancer Therapy
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JP | JPY
The Condemned Live Longer: A Potential Paradigm Shift in Genetics
生命科学の探究
Is our lifestyle influencing the genes? While children inherit many physical characteristics from parental DNA, new findings suggest that factors not directly associated with our genetic code can be passed to subsequent generations as well.
For more than 150 years, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has been the consensus in biology. He published his theory of variation and natural selection in the mid-19th century, which assumed that species carry their own specific characteristics and pass them along to their offspring. New or modified attributes occur by natural variations and only prevail if they lead to better chances of individual survival. However, Darwin’s idea contradicted distinguished naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who postulated that offspring inherit characteristics that are actively acquired by earlier generations. A vivid example of this theory is the giraffe. Lamarck believed that giraffes evolved through the action of continuously stretching their necks to get food from ever high trees in the African steppe, a characteristic that was then inherited by future generations. In other words, the more giraffes stretched for food, the longer the necks of subsequent generations became.
Gregor Mendel's findings, which described genes for the first time, supplemented and confirmed Darwin’s conclusions. Darwin’s theory and Mendel’s principles of heredity have been the status quo in genetics since then, while Lamarck’s theory was consigned to the dustbin of history.
Much work lies ahead of us before we can fully understand epigenetic mechanisms and their effects. In the end, we may discover that genetics is simply a mixture of Darwin’s and Lamarck’s concepts.
Gregor Mendel's findings, which described genes for the first time, supplemented and confirmed Darwin’s conclusions. Darwin’s theory and Mendel’s principles of heredity have been the status quo in genetics since then, while Lamarck’s theory was consigned to the dustbin of history.
It’s much more than just our genetic code
Research over past years indicates that we may have to exhume Lamarck’s theory however.We carry about 20,000 identical genes in every cell of our body. Together, they form our genetic blueprint. But the human body has around 200 different cell types, all derived from one kind of stem cell. A specific gene regulation system is the only obvious explanation for this variability. This mechanism is called epigenetics, which refers to a process that coordinates how and to what extent gene information is used in each cell. Epigenetic changes regulate the gene expression while the DNA sequence, our genetic code, remains unaffected.Small appendages do the job
Epigenetics functions as a 2nd information level of the DNA. Small molecules, the methyl groups, bind to the DNA and fold it in a specific way. This more or less opens up the genes to access by the enzymes, which translate them into proteins. The DNA-methylation patterns are passed from one cell generation to the next, thus guaranteeing that all cells of an organ or with a specific function produce only new cells with the same identity. These patterns also allow the body to interact with the environment and respond to changing influences in a flexible manner. Nutrition and stress can alter the epigenetic pattern for instance.What parents may pass on to their kids
This begs the question, to what extent are epigenetic factors passed from one human generation to the next? For decades, the genetic gospel held that the information parents pass on to their children is defined by their DNA sequences. Increasing evidence suggests that epigenetic factors are inherited as well. Genes appear to have a multi-generational memory. Recent studies demonstrate that parents with high-fat diets can influence the metabolism of their children and even their grandchildren. Another example is stress. Babies whose mothers were abused during pregnancy developed long-lasting epigenetic changes that were detectable until their teen years.Promising signs
Epigenetics has the potential to offer diverse opportunities for the innovative treatment of diseases. The idea that scientists could one day cure specific illnesses before an outbreak by simply modulating the epigenetic patterns that are identified as the cause is not too far-fetched. Even cancer treatment could benefit. The targeted methylation of cancerogenic DNA sequences could be used to deactivate oncogenes, thus killing the cells or stopping them from propagating.Much work lies ahead of us before we can fully understand epigenetic mechanisms and their effects. In the end, we may discover that genetics is simply a mixture of Darwin’s and Lamarck’s concepts.
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