A new study at Sydney's Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute showed that traits can be changed through "epigenetic" changes, which could have implications for a number of trends and changes in our population, such as the obesity epidemic.
Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. It considers how genes are switched on or off, usually through an environmental stimulus, such as a change in diet.
However, unlike the genetic changes, epigenetic changes do not involve permanent mutations in the genetic code.
In their study, the researchers fed a group of mice a diet rich in supplements such as folate, zinc and vitamin B12, which help to suppress obesity in mice by turning a particular gene off.
The researchers found that when the diet was continued in the lean mice over five generations, the epigenetic effects were inherited which resulted in the increase in the proportion of lean and healthy specimens in each subsequent generation, without any change to the genetic code of the mice...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment