Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Neuroepigenetics is the study of how epigenetic changes to genes affect the nervous system. These changes may effect underlying conditions such as addiction , cognition , and neurological development .
Epigenetic mechanisms. In biology, epigenetics is the study of heritable traits, or a stable change of cell function, that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. [1] The Greek prefix epi-(ἐπι-"over, outside of, around") in epigenetics implies features that are "on top of" or "in addition to" the traditional (DNA sequence based) genetic mechanism of inheritance. [2]
Behavioral epigenetics is the field of study examining the role of epigenetics in shaping animal and human behavior. [1] It seeks to explain how nurture shapes nature, [2] where nature refers to biological heredity [3] and nurture refers to virtually everything that occurs during the life-span (e.g., social-experience, diet and nutrition, and exposure to toxins). [4]
Early life experiences, even when generations removed, can cause permanent epigenetic modifications of DNA resulting in changes in gene expression, endocrine function and metabolism. [1] These heritable epigenetic modifications include DNA methylation of the promoter regions of genes that affect sensitivity to stress.
Such remaining epigenetic changes can be viewed as “molecular scars” [12] that may affect gene expression. In rodent models, drugs of abuse, including cocaine, [ 15 ] methamphetamine, [ 16 ] [ 17 ] alcohol [ 18 ] and tobacco smoke products, [ 19 ] all cause DNA damage in the brain.
There are mechanisms by which environmental exposures induce epigenetic changes by affecting regulation and gene expression. Four general categories of epigenetic modification are known. self-sustaining metabolic loops, in which an mRNA or protein product of a gene stimulates transcription of the gene; e.g. Wor1 gene in Candida albicans ;
The function of DNA strands (yellow) alters depending on how it is organized around histones (blue) that can be methylated (green).. In biology, the epigenome of an organism is the collection of chemical changes to its DNA and histone proteins that affects when, where, and how the DNA is expressed; these changes can be passed down to an organism's offspring via transgenerational epigenetic ...
The study found 43 genes having significant changes in DNA methylation. Of the 43 genes, 3 of the genes experiencing reduced methylation levels were directly correlated with increased survival of breast cancer. The gene L3MBTL1, a known tumor suppressor, had methylation levels decreased by 1.48% in the exercise group while the limited exercise ...