Epigenetics

NutriGenetic Research Institute is committed to studying the relationship between environmental and other epigenetic factors and individual’s genetics to better understand the role genetics may play in patient wellness.

The researchers showed for the first time that the DNA methylome of these brain tumors can be reprogrammed. The study said that this is the first time DNA methylome reprogramming has occurred with any solid human tumor.

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Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a pregnancy complication first detected in the second or third trimester in women that did not show evident glucose intolerance or diabetes before gestation. In 2019, the International Diabetes Federation reported that 15.8% of live births were affected by hyperglycemia during pregnancy, of which 83.6% were due to gestational diabetes mellitus, 8.5% were due to diabetes first detected in pregnancy, and 7.9% were due to diabetes detected before pregnancy. GDM increases the susceptibility to developing chronic diseases for both the mother and the baby later in life. Under GDM conditions, the intrauterine environment becomes hyperglycemic, while also showing high concentrations of fatty acids and proinflammatory cytokines, producing morphological, structural, and molecular modifications in the placenta, affecting its function; these alterations may predispose the baby to disease in adult life. Molecular alterations include epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA and RNA methylation, chromatin remodeling, histone modifications, and expression of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). The placenta is a unique organ that originates only in pregnancy, and its main function is communication between the mother and the fetus, ensuring healthy development. Thus, this review provides up-to-date information regarding two of the best-documented (epigenetic) mechanisms (DNA methylation and miRNA expression) altered in the human placenta under GDM conditions, as well as potential implications for the offspring.

Evidence of a new principle for how epigenetic changes can occur has now been outlined by a team of researchers. The principle is based on an enzyme, tryptase, that has epigenetic effects that cause cells to proliferate in an uncontrolled manner.

Researchers have identified special regions of the genome where a blood sample can be used to infer epigenetic regulation throughout the body, allowing scientists to test for epigenetic causes of disease.

A new article explains that RNA also has its own spelling and grammar, just like DNA. These 'epigenetics of RNA' are called epitranscriptome.

Subscribe to NutritionFacts.org’s free newsletter to receive our B12 infographic that covers the latest research takeaways and Dr. Greger’s updated recommendations: https://nutritionfacts.org/subscribe/ DESCRIPTION: What pregnant women eat may even affect the health of their grandchildren. Epigenetics is the science of altering the expression of your genes. No matter your family history, some genes can be effectively turned on and off by the lifestyle choices you make. See, for example: • The Alzheimer’s Gene: Controlling ApoE (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-alzheimers-gene-controlling-apoe/) • BRCA Breast Cancer Genes and Soy (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/brca-breast-cancer-genes-and-soy/) • Cancer Reversal Through Diet? (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/cancer-reversal-through-diet/) For more on “obesogenic” chemicals, see: • How to Avoid the Obesity-Related Plastic Chemical BPA (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-to-avoid-the-obesity-related-plastic-chemical-bpa) • Why is Meat a Risk Factor for Diabetes? (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/why-is-meat-a-risk-factor-for-diabetes/) • Obesity-Causing Pollutants in Food (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/obesity-causing-pollutants-in-food/) I previously touched on PAHs in Meat Fumes: Dietary Secondhand Smoke (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/meat-fumes-dietary-secondhand-smoke/). Have a question about this video? Leave it in the comment section at http://nutritionfacts.org/video/animal-protein-pregnancy-and-childhood-obesity and someone on the NutritionFacts.org team will try to answer it. Want to get a list of links to all the scientific sources used in this video? Click on Sources Cited at http://nutritionfacts.org/video/animal-protein-pregnancy-and-childhood-obesity. You’ll also find a transcript of the video, my blog and speaking tour schedule, and an easy way to search (by translated language even) through our videos spanning more than 2,000 health topics. If you’d rather watch these videos on YouTube, subscribe to my YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=nutritionfactsorg Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution! -Michael Greger, MD FACLM Image Credit: e_monk via fickr and Peter Trimming via geograph.org.uk https://NutritionFacts.org • Subscribe: https://nutritionfacts.org/subscribe • Donate: https://nutritionfacts.org/donate • Podcast : https://nutritionfacts.org/audio • Facebook: www.facebook.com/NutritionFacts.org • Twitter: www.twitter.com/nutrition_facts • Instagram: www.instagram.com/nutrition_facts_org • Books (including the NEW How Not to Diet Cookbook): https://nutritionfacts.org/books • Shop: https://drgreger.org

According to epigenetics -- the study of inheritable changes in gene expression not directly coded in our DNA -- our life experiences may be passed on to our children and our children's children. Studies on survivors of traumatic events have suggested that exposure to stress may indeed have lasting effects on subsequent generations. But how exactly are these genetic "memories" passed on?

Environmental influences, including diet and exposure to toxins, clearly influence the gene expression of future generations.

A new study offers clues as to why chronic pain can persist, even when the injury that caused it has gone. Although still in its infancy, this research could explain how small and seemingly innocuous injuries leave molecular 'footprints' which add up to more lasting damage, and ultimately chronic pain.

Almost all of our genes may be influenced by the food we eat, suggests new research. The study, carried out in yeast -- which can be used to model some of the body's fundamental processes -- shows that while the activity of our genes influences our metabolism, the opposite is also true and the nutrients available to cells influence our genes.

A new study has shown pregnant women with obesity could reduce the health risks for their infants through improved diet and more physical activity.

An error in one of the most widely used methods in epigenetics, DIP-seq, can cause misleading results. This may have major significance in the research field, where 'big data' and advanced methods of DNA analysis are used to study vast amounts of data. Correcting for the errors in existing DIP-seq data may lead to new discoveries from previous studies of human epigenetics.

Methyl labels in the DNA regulate the activity of our genes and, thus, have a great influence on health and disease. Scientists have now revealed that an altered methylation status at only 10 specific sites in the genome can indicate that mortality is increased by up to seven times. Smoking has a particularly unfavorable impact on the methylation status.

As an organism grows and responds to its environment, genes in its cells are constantly turning on and off, with different patterns of gene expression in different cells. But can changes in gene expression be passed on from parents to their children and subsequent generations? Researchers have now demonstrated that epigenetic information carried by parental sperm chromosomes can cause changes in gene expression and development in the offspring.

Epigenetic changes in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas can be detected in patients several years before the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. These changes are responsible for the altered methylation activity of specific genes which differs from that in healthy individuals. In humans, 105 such changes have been discovered in blood cells.

Changing the epigenetic code of a single gene is enough to cause a healthy breast cell to begin a chain reaction and become abnormal, according to new research.

Metformin is the most commonly used drug to treat type 2 diabetes (T2D), though not all patients respond to it, and still, others do not tolerate it. García-Calzón et al . analyzed genome-wide DNA methylation in the blood of drug-naïve patients who were recently diagnosed with T2D. They found that DNA methylation at specific loci associated with future metformin response or tolerance, respectively, across multiple cohorts. These epigenetic markers may have theranostic potential regarding which patients should receive metformin. Metformin is the first-line pharmacotherapy for managing type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, many patients with T2D do not respond to or tolerate metformin well. Currently, there are no phenotypes that successfully predict glycemic response to, or tolerance of, metformin. We explored whether blood-based epigenetic markers could discriminate metformin response and tolerance by analyzing genome-wide DNA methylation in drug-naïve patients with T2D at the time of their diagnosis. DNA methylation of 11 and 4 sites differed between glycemic responders/nonresponders and metformin-tolerant/intolerant patients, respectively, in discovery and replication cohorts. Greater methylation at these sites associated with a higher risk of not responding to or not tolerating metformin with odds ratios between 1.43 and 3.09 per 1-SD methylation increase. Methylation risk scores (MRSs) of the 11 identified sites differed between glycemic responders and nonresponders with areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.80 to 0.98. MRSs of the 4 sites associated with future metformin intolerance generated AUCs of 0.85 to 0.93. Some of these blood-based methylation markers mirrored the epigenetic pattern in adipose tissue, a key tissue in diabetes pathogenesis, and genes to which these markers were annotated to had biological functions in hepatocytes that altered metformin-related phenotypes. Overall, we could discriminate between glycemic responders/nonresponders and participants tolerant/intolerant to metformin at diagnosis by measuring blood-based epigenetic markers in drug-naïve patients with T2D. This epigenetics-based tool may be further developed to help patients with T2D receive optimal therapy.

The past of our ancestors lives on through us: Groundbreaking research illustrates how parental experience is not only epigenetically imprinted onto offspring, but onto an unprecedented number of future generations. Rather than occurring over the elongated time scale of millions of years, genetic change can transpire in real biological time through nanoparticles known as exosomes

Our healthspan is to a great extent epigenetically determined by diets, lifestyle, and various other environmental factors. Gut microbiota has been proven to be the major player in maintaining human health. Our previous report described health benefits of long-term ingestion of aloe vera gel through the modification of the intestinal microbiota. In the present review, we broadly cover the topics of microbiota and aloe vera gel ingestion related to attenuation of reactive oxygen species, prevention of cardiovascular disorders, effects of life-prolonging calorie restriction. Additional data are summarized on prophylactic actions of fermented butyrate, and aloe-emodin related components against obesity. Prophylactic actions of aloe vera gel on healthy aging, skin photo-aging, and the viability and lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster are discussed in relation to the properties of butyrate and its potential effects involved in health and disease.

In Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton, PhD, outlines a new understanding of life based on his pioneering research with stem cells at Stanford University. In his book, Dr. Lipton proclaims that genes do not control biology, and that cellular perceptions of the environment are the primary factor in biological processes. Proteins are the staff of life, the physical gears that orchestrate the movements of biology. There are estimated to be about 100,000 different kinds of proteins in the human body. Today, medical students and practitioners are still operating under the assumption that genes, the blueprints that proteins are made from, are the primary factor in biological processes. When James Watson and Francis Crick first visualized the molecular structure of DNA in 1953, the scientific community believed they had found the ultimate secret to life. The widely accepted understanding is that genetic information stored within the DNA is enough to explain all of molecular biology and heredity and is the reason why living organisms look and behave as they do, in sickness and in health. The old scientific paradigm espoused that inert genes were the brain of the cell, directing and controlling which proteins become expressed in every cell and that we are essentially all just victims of heredity. After doing experiments with enucleation, a process where the genes are removed from the cell, Dr. Lipton and other experimenters found that cells live normal lives for up to two months or even longer before their proteins wore out and they died, an observation that contradicts the primacy of genes in cell biology. The genetic information stored in DNA is the blueprint from which all of the body's proteins can be made. Modern science has mistaken the blueprint, the DNA, for the contractor who actually builds the house. So, if the genes are not the brains of the cell, what is? Introducing the Cell MemBrain. At just seven nanometers wide, this phospholipid bilayer is covered in hundreds of thousands of different receptor proteins. These receptor proteins are each specialized to interpret different signals from the environment and then relay that information back into the cell. When a chemical messenger like a hormone or a neurotransmitter binds to a receptor protein like a key going into a lock, the receptor protein activates corresponding effector proteins inside of the cell, initiating a cascade of chemical reactions within the cell. These are called IMPs, or integral membrane proteins. This receptor effector protein relationships in the cell membrane is how a cell perceives and reacts to its environment. A molecule in the environment binds to a receptor protein, an effector protein gets activated, and the chemical release inside the cell makes its way back to the cell's nucleus where the DNA is opened up so a new protein can be made in the process of transcription. All the functions of DNA depend on interactions with proteins. For example, within the chromosomes, proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins helping control which parts of the DNA are transcribed. For a gene to be expressed, a sigma factor protein needs to bind to RNA polymerase for it to split the DNA and be able to access the blueprint. Different sigma factors are utilized under different environmental conditions. The specialized sigma factors bind the promotors of genes appropriate to the environmental conditions, increasing the transcription of those genes. The genes chosen to be activated and synthesized into new proteins are the direct result of signals from the environment interacting with receptor proteins in the cell membrane. This is the molecular basis for the environment being the primary factor in biological processes. Understanding this complex interaction between environmental conditions and gene expression leads to a marvelous new understanding of biological development where evolution is no longer a mindless game of chance based on random hereditary variants but an interactive dance between organism and environment. ⭐Learn more about Quantum University ⭐ 🎓Degree Programs Offered - https://quantumuniversity.com/degree-programs/ 💻Student Experience - https://quantumuniversity.com/student-experience/ 💙Career Paths - https://quantumuniversity.com/career-paths/ ❓ Request Information - https://quantumuniversity.com/request-information/ 👍 Like Us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/QuantumUniversity

Four new papers mark the feasibility of epigenetic analysis for clinical diagnostics and precision medicine. Epigenetic analysis addresses key limitations of genetic testing, helping to ensure that patients are accurately diagnosed and treated with the right drug at the right time.

Cancer cells have a different DNA methylation pattern from that of healthy cells. These patterns can be used to explain tumor-specific deviations in gene expression and to identify biomarkers for the detection of tumors, as well as associated prognosis and treatment planning. This is all possible thanks to epigenetics. Epigenetics looks at special regulation mechanisms, such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, which determine the gene expression pattern of different types of cell and are passed on to daughter cells, without there being any specific changes to the DNA base sequence. Using this technology, it is now also possible to identify the original tumor cells, by comparing them with healthy cells.

The epigenome refers to the entirety of DNA methylations, histone modifications, nucleosome occupancy, and coding and non-coding RNAs (and their modifications) in different cell types [...]

Epigenetic studies in animal models have demonstrated that diet affects gene regulation by altering methylation patterns. We interrogated methylomes in humans who have different sources of protein in their diet. We compared methylation of DNA isolated from buffy coat in 38 vegans, 41 pescatarians and 68 nonvegetarians. Methylation data were obtained using Infinium HumanMethylation450 arrays and analyzed using the Partek Genomic software. Differences in differentially methylated sites were small, though with the use of relaxed statistical tests we did identify diet-associated differences. To further test the validity of these observations, we performed separate and independent comparisons of the methylation differences between vegans and nonvegetarians, and between vegans and pescatarians. The detected differences were then examined to determine if they were enriched in specific pathways. Pathway analysis revealed enrichment of several specific processes, including homeobox transcription and glutamate transport. The detected differences in DNA methylation patterns between vegans, pescatarians, and nonvegetarians enabled us to identify 77 CpG sites that may be sensitive to diet and/or lifestyle, though high levels of individual-specific differences were also noted.

A growing body of research is revealing associations between birth defects and a father's age, alcohol use and environmental factors, say researchers. They say these defects result from epigenetic alterations that can potentially affect multiple generations.