Thursday, November 02, 2006
Epigenetics: Parentage has effects outside the genome
Mothering, good or bad, sticks with an individual according to a Hot Paper by McGill University researchers Michael Meaney, Ian Weaver, and Moshe Szyf. In 2004, the authors showed that in rat pups, high levels of licking, grooming, and arched-back nursing (LG-ABN) lowered the methylation state of the NGF1-A binding site of the glucocortoid exon 17 promoter, thereby increasing activation of the glucocortoid receptor gene and triggering lasting changes in the expression of genes related to stress response.
Previously, methylation state was perceived as fixed during development, says Szyf. 'In this case,' says Duke University researcher Randy Jirtle, 'Nature is nurture.'
Continued at "Epigenetics: Parentage has effects outside the genome"
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Based on "Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior" by I.C.G. Weaver et al (Full Text) [behaviour]
And "Reversal of Maternal Programming of Stress Responses in Adult Offspring through Methyl Supplementation: Altering Epigenetic Marking Later in Life" I.C.G. Weaver et al (Full Text)
Featured Book: "Chromatin and Gene Regulation: Mechanisms in Epigenetics" by Bryan Turner (Amazon UK | US)
Books on Epigenetics from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US
Technorati: mothering, good, bad, mcgill, university, licking, grooming, arched, back, nursing, rat, pups, methylation, state, receptor, gene, genes, stress, response, development, duke, epigenetics, parentage, genome, maternal, behavior, epigenetic, chromatin, regulation, mechanisms, science, behaviour, nature, nuture
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