The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance

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In Epigenetics, the authors managed to give various examples of how epigenetics affects the genetic inheritance in humans. They present a lot of interesting and valuable information, but also challenge the reader’s views and knowledge about genes, and demand a fundamental shift in the way we think about them, making this volume one of the best epigenetics books you will ever find. What Hurts Our Epigenetics Throughout the book, Carey gives great examples. She doesn't limit herself to observable phenomena, but also comparisons, thought experiments, really. This made some very intricate molecular dances comprehensible to me. I heard some I was familiar with, but a great many I wasn't. The book is 8 years old, so there's been some advances since, but I didn't recognize many. This book is interesting and notably competent science writing. The proper audience for this book is someone with specific interests in genetics, and biology.

In many biological processes the regulation of gene expression involves epigenetic mechanisms. In this new edition of Epigenetics, 36 chapters written by experts in the field introduce and explain epigenetic effects from many perspectives. These include the varied molecular mechanisms underpinning epigenetic regulation, discussion of cellular processes that rely on this kind of regulation, and surveys of model organisms in which epigenetic effects have been most studied. Epigenetics is an emerging frontier of science that involves the study of changes in the regulation of gene activity and expression that are not dependent on gene sequence and it is in "The Epigenetics Revolution" by Nessa Carey where you will be introduced to a fantastic world of science in which you will learn if and how environment play a fundamental role in your genotype/phenotype. In this young field of science, one can assume at the moment that almost everything has an influence. And yet it does not stagnates at just a few unique transcriptions, which remain constant until the end of life, instead the mutations are permanent and affect health, unborn children, personality, the future of humanity, etc.Today, this hopeful version of evolution sounds harmless, if impossibly naive, but in the Stalin-era Soviet Union, it (like much else) turned deadly. Stalin loved the idea that the fruits of hard work today (bigger muscles, fuller brains, workier workers) would be passed along intact to the next generation, and Trofim Lysenko took full advantage. You might work this generation of comrade's to death, but their children would last a bit longer and work a bit more. And their children the same, ad paradisium. With Stalin's blessing, Lysenko transformed the Soviet Union's agriculture through a series of "reforms" that were based on the wildly wrong idea that wheat (or anything else) would 'learn' how to thrive in hostile environments, pass along that learning to a next generation, and eventually feed the Soviet Union's millions. It didn't. As a result of Stalin's all-in investment in Lysenkoism, millions died of starvation (not to mention the hundreds of scientists who spoke out against Lysenko and were shot or sent to Siberia). The damage was not limited to the Soviet Union. Lysenko's politically motivated pseudoscience was also widely adopted in China, contributing to the great famine of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which took as many as 15 million lives and probably many more. Second, there's the glossary at the end. This could really use more detail. Similar criticism: if you go to the glossary to look for an explanation, you won't necessarily find the matter clarified there. Changes in our epigenetics start taking place even before we are born. This process starts as early as determining which cell in our body will have which function. In other words, it gives the cells their functions and tells them to become heart cells, skin cells, or anything else. Other factors that influence our epigenetics involve age, outside elements, and more. Perhaps the most studied clinical application of epigenetic mechanisms is cancer. One of the first reports of epigenetics involved in cancer reported hypomethylation of DNA in cancer cell genomes, which caused overexpression of genes within that cell. [26] Since this report, great strides have been made toward understanding the role of epigenetics in carcinogenesis. For example, the degree of DNA methylation continues to decrease as a benign tumor cell progresses to invasive cancer. [27] Other studies have shown hypomethylation of pro-proliferative genes like BAX2 that are suppressed in normal cells. [28] Other reports show hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes, like Rb, BCRA1, and CDKN2A, in cancer cells. [29] [30] [31]Despite the wealth of knowledge present on the relationship between epigenetics and carcinogenesis, treatment development is still very much in the preliminary phase formost cancers. Clear and concise, this book hit just the spot I wanted it to. It was a welcome book in the sense that though, at times, it felt a little swamped with names and terms (which I think if taking your time to read (which I did) it's easy to keep on top of) it was a relatively 'uncluttered' book; most scientific terms had an analogy to link them to or something similar which made them much easier to understand.

Carey explains how epigenetics works at the molecular level. I must admit, that with all the technical terminology and codes for different molecules, I did not follow all of the details. However, Carey gets the essence of the mechanisms across very clearly, using a combination of schematic (simplified) diagrams, and an array of useful metaphors. The first metaphor she introduces is of a ball rolling downhill into one of a number of troughs, which represents the "epigenetic landscape". This metaphor is brought up again and again throughout the book, and helps the layman visualize cellular development. Another metaphor is of a play that uses the same script in each production, but in the hands of different directors comes out differently each time.It explores the impact of non-genetic factors, such as nutrition, exposure to chemicals, and other environmental factors on human gene expression. The author, Trygve Tollefsbol, manages to include the most recent discoveries in the field of epigenetics, starting by covering the basic aspects, explaining the newest technologies, their effects on clinical medicine, and more. New Epigenetic Discoveries If our DNA is the script for our play, epigenetic modifications act as a multitude of varied performances, enabling our cells - which, again, all have identical DNA - to specialise in completely different ways. This is why we don't have teeth in our eyes, for example. For deeply historical reasons, our genes are first transcribed into a chemical, RNA, which is eventually translated into proteins, which then do pretty much all the work of making and caring for our bodies. Mutations in genes over time produce changes in the proteome (the set of proteins that make up a body), which results in different creatures. But now we know that there's more to the story. Chemical markers that are attached to genes, and which often end up there as a result of things experienced during a lifetime, can dramatically alter how genes are expressed. As an example, when a child is raised in a stressful environment, epigenetic changes may cause the child to more readily produce stress-related hormones, and those epigenetic changes may last throughout the person's lifetime. Even under low stress situations, that same child may produce more of the harmful stress hormones as an adult.

Time to worry again―our lifestyle choices do impact our genetic code and that of our children (and even grandchildren!). "The potential is staggering. . . . The age of epigenetics has arrived."― Time , January 2010 The answer is epigenetics, which is the study of how the same DNA can be expressed in different ways. Sections of DNA can be switched on or off. They can have their 'volume' turned up or down. Economic meltdown … environmental crisis … seemingly endless warfare. The world is in critical condition. This book is more interesting than pleasant, more arduous than easy, and it is not for the average reader, but I constantly felt like cheering for the excellence of Nessa Carey who is so determined to bring to our attention the wonder of genetic inventiveness within our life. Epigenetics research continues apace in labs investigating a dazzling variety of topics. One interesting direction is the application of high-throughput sequencing technologies to the characterization of hundreds of ‘epigenomes’ (epigenetic marks across the entire genome). I manage a project that’s part of the International Human Epigenomics Consortium (IHEC), and am also a member of a couple of the consortium’s working groups, so I see for myself every day how fast this field is progressing. The goal of IHEC is to generate at least 1,000 publicly available ‘reference’ epigenomes (patterns of DNA methylation, six histone modifications, and gene activation) from various normal and diseased cell types. These references will serve as a baseline in other studies, in the same way that the original human genome project sequenced a reference genome to which scientists can now compare their own results to identify changes associated with specific diseases.Cells from different organs of an animal are very different in appearance even though they all have the same DNA and other structures. How can that be? Reading The Epigenetics Revolution was the first time I read a science book outside my school curriculum. In this book, Nessa Carey describes how the world around you can and will influence everything about the way your body works by changing your genetic material. I found this book so interesting because it made me think about genetics in a completely new way, as something changeable and constantly developing, as opposed to the rigid structure I had thought of before. Spontaneous Evolution offers the information, inspiration and invitation to participate in the greatest adventure in human history — conscious evolution!