- Nature or nurture? --BOTH
- identical twins share all genes
- fraternal twins share half the genes
- as twins grow older, their chromosomes have different epigenetic tags attached
- when schizophrenia occurs in identical twins, in 50% of cases both develop the disease while in fraternal twins, only 10-15% of the time do both twins develop it
- both identical twins don't develop the disease 100% of the time = other factors involved
Lick Your Rats
- Highly nurtured (licked) rat pups = calm adults
- Little nurtured rat pups = anxious adults
- Anxiousness is a + in wild, while - in domesticated environment
- relaxedness is - in wild, while + in domesticated environment
- epigenetic patterns can be changed
- licking releases GR gene
- more of GR means more relaxedness and faster recovery from stress
Nutrition and the Epigenome
- mother's diet while pregnant affects embryo structure and critical factors that stay through adulthood
- agouti gene in mice is unmethylated = yellow coat color, obesity and prone to diabetes, cancer
- agouti gene is methylated = brown coat color, mouse has a low disease risk
- Shortage of food for grandfather = extended lifespan of grandchildren
- more food for grandpa = grandkids' lifespan shortened by diabetes, heart disease
- disease risk can be predicted by looking at family health history
Epigenetics and the Human Brain
- Child abuse and suicide may be epigenetically linked
- People who commit suicide have less-active ribosomal RNA
- the abused suicide victims had an epigenetic tag on the GR gene
- GR gene receives similar epigenetic tag in rat pups who receive low quality care mothers
- The gene for REELIN protein has is more active in schizophrenic brains than normal brains
- 60 genes = difference between psychiatric patients and healthy people
- drugs used to treat mental illness change gene expression sometimes
- Drugs of abuse trigger epigenetic changes, affect hundreds of genes at a time
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