Epigenetics In Nature Vs. Nurture

Through the course of an organism’s life, it is exposed to countless environmental factors that may play critical roles in how the organism grows and develops. Simply put, epigenetics is the study of how exactly those factors influence the genes found in DNA. In the classic Nature vs Nurture debate, the epigenome is to Nurture what the genome is to Nature, although perhaps not in the way one might suspect at first.

To understand exactly how the epigenome functions, it is necessary to know how genes themselves are organized. Genes are sections of DNA that each code for a specific protein. The DNA the genes are found in wrap around certain proteins called histones, and “both the DNA and histones are covered with chemical tags”

(learn.genetics.utah.edu).

Take the mouth, for example. Logically, it may be hard to explain why the mouth does not grow fingernails or hair; after all, it is a fact that virtually every cell in the body, with certain exceptions, such as the red blood cell, contains the entire human

David Leon:

This is a very well written, easy to understand explanation of epigenetics.

genome: enough data to recreate a person from scratch. Why, then, are our body parts restrained to that specific part? The answer lies with the epigenome. It controls different parts of the body develop by turning “on” genes necessary for that part to function, while turning “off” other genes that may interfere with normal function. As stated earlier, epigenetic changes do not change the actual genome; it allows certain genes to be read and expressed as proteins, while blocking others from doing the same.

Also important is the question: “What causes these epigenetic changes?”.

Essentially, the epigenome changes in response to environmental factors. For example, in labs, mice that received attention from their mothers during their first week were calmer overall through the rest of their lives than those that did not. Ultimately,