Epigenetics

The extra pounds you gain during the holidays will not only show up on your hips but will also affect your DNA, concludes a large-scale international study. The study shows that a high BMI leads to epigenetic changes at nearly 200 loci of the genome – with effects on gene expression.

When parents eat low-protein or high-fat diets it can lead to metabolic disorders in their adult offspring. Now, an international team has identified a key player and the molecular events underlying this phenomenon in mice.

Studies of human populations and animal models suggest that a father's experiences such as diet or environmental stress can influence the health and development of his descendants. How these effects are transmitted across generations, however, remains mysterious. A new study in the roundworm C. elegans documents the transmission via sperm of epigenetic marks that are both necessary and sufficient to guide proper development of germ cells in the offspring.

Cross-talk between plant and animal cells may be accomplished via microRNA-carrying exosomes, gene-regulating elements contained in plants which reinforce that food is information and suggests an inextricable co-evolutionary relationship between these two disparate kingdoms

Maternal infection during pregnancy increases the risk for psychiatric disorders in the child, but the path between the two is something of a mystery. Scientists have now used a mouse model to show that activation of the mother's immune system may cause long-term alterations in the programming of the offspring's genome, known as epigenetic modifications, which lead to behavioral abnormalities in adulthood.

Maternal infection during pregnancy increases the risk for psychiatric disorders in the child, but the path between the two is something of a mystery. Scientists have now used a mouse model to show that activation of the mother's immune system may cause long-term alterations in the programming of the offspring's genome, known as epigenetic modifications, which lead to behavioral abnormalities in adulthood.

A novel technique has been created to map specific chemical (or “epigenetic”) modifications made to the protein packaging of DNA using a small population of cells. Such epigenetic marks play a central role in the regulation of the genome’s expression.

A study in mice shows for the first time that epigenetics -- the molecular mechanisms that determine which genes are turned on or off -- plays a key role in determining an individual's innate drive to exercise.

Researchers combined two different analysis techniques into one method, to simultaneously analyze how chromosomes, along with their epigenetic features, are compacted inside of single human brain cells. The method, called single-nucleus methyl-3C sequencing, not only enabled them to identify gene regulatory elements in distinct cell types, but also paves the way toward a new understanding of how some cells become dysregulated to cause disease.

Every cell in the body has two genomes, one from the mother and one from the father. Until now, researchers have lacked the tools to examine -- in a single cell -the exact readout from each genome to make RNA. Using a new technology that allows researchers to do just that, an interdisciplinary team examined a rare disease in which these two genomes are expressed differently throughout the body, even sometimes in the same organ.

New research suggests that early severe social deprivation may impact DNA modifications that affect the expression of stress-related genes.

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Evidence has been building in recent years that our diet, our habits or traumatic experiences can have consequences for the health of our children -- and even our grandchildren. The explanation that has gained most currency for how this occurs is so-called 'epigenetic inheritance' -- patterns of chemical 'marks' on or around our DNA that are hypothesized to be passed down the generations. New research suggests this mechanism of non-genetic inheritance is likely to be very rare.

Biochemists have developed a new strategy for controlling the biological functions of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) by means of light and therefore provide a tool to investigate processes which take place in cells.

Epigenetic changes are chemical modifications that turn our genes off or on. In a new study, researchers show that tea consumption in women leads to epigenetic changes in genes that are known to interact with cancer and estrogen metabolism.

New insights in biology show that food is informational and can directly impact and even control the expression of your genes. The implications of this are profound, and have both a light and dark side in need of deeper exploration...

Genes are only one factor in whether or not you get cancer. Discover what MTHFR gene mutation is and steps you can take to decrease your cancer risk.

Scientists may be closer to answering a long-standing question in biology -- how do the components of cells' molecular machinery work together to transmit vital gene regulatory information from one cell generation to the next?

A high-fat, high-sugar diet during pregnancy may be linked to symptoms of ADHD in children who show conduct problems early in life, new research indicates.

Throughout our lives, our genes are affected by the way we live. Diet, exercise, age and diseases create imprints that are stored in something called methylome. Now, for the first time, researchers have been able to map the entire methylome in the pancreatic islets which produce insulin, and the researchers have made several important discoveries.

The existence of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance has now been demonstrated among Drosophila fruit flies. By temporarily modifying the function of Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins--which play an essential role in development--the researchers obtained fruit fly lines having the same DNA sequence but different eye colors. An example of epigenetic inheritance, this color diversity reflects varying degrees of heritable, but reversible, gene repression by PcG proteins. It is observed in both transgenic and wild-type lines and can be modified by environmental conditions such as ambient temperature.

There are 800 incidents of DNA damage in our bodies per hour. Which foods help us patch it back up: apples, broccoli, celery, choy sum, lemons, lettuce, oranges, persimmons, or strawberries? 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/ If it’s not the vitamin C, what might it be? That’s the subject of my next upcoming video Citrus Peels and Cancer: Zest for Life? (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/citrus-peels-and-cancer-zest-for-life) Surprised that the lemon benefit was abolished by cooking? Find out which vegetables it may be best to eat raw in my video Best Cooking Method (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/best-cooking-method/). I talk about cooked versus raw garlic in Inhibiting Platelet Activation with Garlic and Onions (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/inhibiting-platelet-activation-with-garlic-and-onions). Have a question for Dr. Greger about this video? Leave it in the comment section at http://nutritionfacts.org/video/fruits-vegetables-boost-dna-repair and he'll try to answer it! Image Credit: lightwise / 123rf, PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay, Evan-Amos / Wikimedia Commons, Olegivvit / Wikimedia Commons, Donnawetta / Pixabay, PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay, kattebelletje / Flickr, Fir0002 / Wikimedia Commons, Popolon / Wikimedia Commons, Selena / Wikimedia Commons and Silberfuchs / Pixabay. 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

Food, while being the condition for the possibility of all life itself, is rarely appreciated for its true power. Far beyond its conventionally defined role as a source of energy and building blocks for the body-machine, new discoveries on the frontiers of science reveal that food is also a powerful source of information.

Scientists have shown that diet-induced obesity and diabetes can be epigenetically inherited by the offspring via both the oocytes and the sperm.