islands are normally heavily methylated. However, this can be reversed by treating cells with 5Azacytidine (5’azaC). First studied in 1979 by fellow USC researchers, 5’azaC is an FDAapproved chemotherapeutic agent that is also a DNA methylation inhibitor [4]. By forcing…
islands are normally heavily methylated. However, this can be reversed by treating cells with 5Azacytidine (5’azaC). First studied in 1979 by fellow USC researchers, 5’azaC is an FDAapproved chemotherapeutic agent that is also a DNA methylation inhibitor [4]. By forcing…
Matt is a history teacher. His twin brother Greg is a drug addict. Growing up in the Boston area, both boys did well in high school: they were strong students in the classroom and decent athletes on the field, and they got along with their peers. Like many young people, the brothers drank the occasional beer, smoked cigarettes and experimented with marijuana. Then, in college, they tried cocaine. For Greg, the experience derailed his life. The questions that have risen from this are: what made Greg so susceptible to the grasps of cocaine- to the point that the drug essentially destroyed his life? And how did his identical twin, who shares the exact same genes, escape a similar fate? And how can exposure to a drug set up some individuals for a lifelong addiction, while others can move past their youthful indiscretions and go on to lead productive lives? These questions, although not new, have lead neuroscientist to begin taking a fresh approach to finding the answers. New findings suggest that experience can contribute to mental illness by adding or removing “epigenetic” marks on chromosomes. These tags are particular chemicals that can influence gene activity without changing the information encoded in the gene.…
It turns out that high levels of c-Myc send a tumor cell’s gene expression program into overdrive. Transcription increases dramatically, allowing malignant cells to overwhelm factors that might normally hamper their growth and proliferation. This surprising finding, published in this week’s issue of the journal Cell, provides a simple, elegant explanation for how a single protein can have such profound effect in so many and varied types of cancer. “MYC is a key driver in most major cancers, but it has…
Epigenetics is a termed coined from epigenome. It is the study of occurrence of changes in the human genome as a result of gene modification expression raising from factors such as lifestyle. The PBS video presents the efforts and advancements made in epigenetics. It is fascinating to realize two people who are identical due to their DNA like twins turn up to be totally different due to alteration of their genes. Great effort has been dedicated in the study of epigenetics in an effort of curbing inherent diseases such as cancer. The breakthrough presented in the video sheds light in the fight against incurable diseases such as cancer as the realization that genes can be altered and modified by what people eat is an interesting breakthrough phenomena.…
Genetically engineered foods may be one of the most devastating threats we are in contact with today not only to our environment but to the health and very survival of future generations. Typically, the blame to get genetic engineering (GE) foods into the market place is placed on chemical companies or the biotech industries. However, the unseen nor unheard mystery of how genetically engineered foods were able to reach the dinner plates of millions throughout North America and several other parts of the world is revealed in the book, Altered Genes, Twisted Truth, written by Steven M. Druker. According to Jane Goodall, UN Messenger of Peace, Druker has, without doubt, written one of the most important books of the last 50 years.…
It is known that miR-155 is overexpressed in HCC tissue but the cause of it remains mysterious. By experimentally testing the effect of AFB1 on miR-155 we will be able to create a link between the two thus providing a cause and effect. If AFB1 increases miR-155 expression, we will know that it may contribute to tumorigenesis of HCC by stimulating proliferation of cancer cells in the liver. Moreover, miR-155 expression can also serve as a potential biomarker to determine if mother and or patient is being exposed to AFB1 and identify individuals who are at high risk of developing the…
The field of epigenetics is “the study of heritable changes in gene activity which are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence” (“Wikipedia”; n.d.). One can adopt a healthy lifestyle to change the impact of the genes inherited by an offspring. Ornish states that changing eating habits, loving more, and getting more exercise can cause a large increase in brain cells. (“ted.com/speakers”; n.d.) These changes could also impact the number of disease provoking genes that one will pass on to an offspring.…
* 1) A majority of genetically engineered crops in production worldwide today have been engineered with a gene that:…
References: 1. Zhang, Yu-Wen, Kyle A. Furge, Ben Staal, Karl J. Dykema, and George F. Vande Woude. "PLOS ONE: Cancer-Type Regulation of MIG-6 Expression by Inhibitors of Methylation and Histone Deacetylation." PLOS ONE: accelerating the publication of peer-reviewed science. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. .…
In recent years it has become apparent that the environment and underlying mechanisms affect gene expression and the genome outside of the central dogma of biology. It has been found that many epigenetic mechanisms are involved in the regulation and expression of genes such as DNA methylation and chromatin remodeling. These epigenetic mechanisms are believed to be a contributing factor to pathological diseases such as Diabetes type II. An understanding of the epigenome of diabetes patients may help to elucidate otherwise hidden causes of this disease. Critical to the understanding of more complex mechanisms of inheritance we must first have a fundamental understanding of mitosis. Since 1996, as a newly assistant professor of biology, I started to integrate the African Diaspora into teaching the cell…
D. Ziech, R. Franco, A. Pappa, V. Malamou-Mitsi, S. Georgakila, A. G. Georgakilas. (2010) The role of epigenetics in environmental and occupational carcinogenesis. Vol. 188 .340–349. Available at:…
For the last few decades, and as long as many adults can remember, the view of gene inheritance has been written in the four letter language of DNA. Genetic mutations and re-combinations have driven most descriptions of how phenotypic traits are handed down from one generation to the next (The American Association for the Advancement of Science). Researchers and physicians attempted to untangle and discover the clues that suggested gene function could be altered by more than just changes in sequence (Weinhold, 2006). This research paper will discuss what epigenetics are, processes that are responsible for the different gene expressions in epigenetics, factors affecting epigenetic changes, and studies into epigenetics.…
Until the last century, genetic altering was, for the most part, out of the question. One of the first forms of genetic altering was in the 1930’s when some American states were sterilizing the less intelligent people by force. In the 1970’s, the first embryos were being produced outside the human body by a process called in vitro fertilization. This was able to give infertile couples the blessing of having their own children. By the 1990’s, mammals were successfully being cloned; something deemed impossible just a decade earlier by the leading scientist of the world. Finally, in the year 2005, Gerald Schatten, a cloning researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, and his South Korean colleagues had cloned a human embryo to the blastocyst stage,…
Hepatitis C is an inflammation of the liver's cells and tissues caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).…