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what is epigenetics

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here's a conundrum identical twins originate from the same DNA so how can they turn out so different even entry still have a significant genetic component for instance why might one twin get heart disease at 55 while her sister runs marathons in perfect health nature-versus-nurture has a lot to do with it but a deeper related answer I found within something called epigenetics that's the study of how DNA interacts with the multitude of smaller molecules found within cells which can activate and deactivate genes if you think of DNA as a ray he bought those molecules are largely what determine what gets cooked when they aren't making any conscious choices themselves rather their presents and concentration within cells makes the difference so how did that work genes and DNA are expressed when they're red and transcribed into RNA which is translated into proteins by structures called ribosomes and proteins are much of what determines a cell's characteristics and function epigenetic changes can boost or interfere with a transcription of specific genes the most common way interference happens is that DNA or the proteins it's wrapped around get labeled with small chemical tags the set of all of the chemical tags that are attached to the Genome of a given cell is called the epigenome some of these like a methyl group inhibit gene expression by derailing the cellular transcription machinery causing the DNA to coil more tightly making an inaccessible the gene is still there but it's silent boosting transcription is essentially the opposite some chemical tags will unwind the DNA making it easier transcribe which ramps up production of the associated protein epigenetic changes can survive cell division which means that they could affect an organism for its entire life sometimes that's a good thing epigenetic changes are normal development the cells in an embryo start with one master Gino as the cells divide some genes are activated and others inhibited overtime through this epigenetic reprogram some cells develop into heart cells and first into liver cells each of the approximately 200 cell types in your body as a centrally the same Gino but its own distinct epigenome the epigenome also mediates life-long dialogue between genes and the environment the chemical tag that turn genes on and off can be influenced by factors including diet chemical exposure and medication the resulting epigenetic changes can eventually lead to disease if for example turn off a gene that makes a tumor suppressing protein environmentally induced epigenetic changes are part of the reason why genetically identical twins can grow up to have very different lives as twins get older there genomes diverge affecting the way they age and their susceptibility to disease even social experiences can cause epigenetic changes in one famous experiment when mother rats weren't attentive enough to their pups who's in the babies that help them manage stress or methylated and turned off and it might not stop with that generation most epigenetic marks are erased when egg and sperm cells are formed but now researchers but some of those imprints survive passing those epigenetic traits On to the Next Generation your mother's or your father's experiences as a child or choices as adults could actually shape your own happy Gino but even though epigenetic changes are sticky they're not necessarily permanent a balanced lifestyle that includes a healthy diet exercise and avoiding exposure to contaminants May in the long run create a healthy epigenome it's an exciting time to be studying this scientists are just beginning to understand how epigenetics could explain mechanisms of human development and aging as well as the origins of cancer heart disease mental illness addiction and the other conditions new genome editing techniques are making it much easier to identify which epigenetic changes really matter for health and disease once we understand how our epigenome influences us we might able to influence it to

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