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Period 6
Marco Corrao
Period 6
activities. These tags are also very stable, and can be passed through
generations so that a skin cell, reproducing itself, give origin to other
identical skin cells, with the same function. This direct control on the gene
activity is known as epigenome, literally: above the genome.
5. Nature vs Nurture
6. Choosing diplomacy
The experiment on mice had not, however, reached its best part. The low
nurtured rats were in fact treated with a drug, which was known to remove
the tags diming that gene. The behavior of these mice utterly changed: they
now responded to stress as normal rats. Scientists were, so, able to invert
this process and reactivate that gene. This surprising result led to a further
step in the study of epigenetics. Is it possible that epigenetics markers are
also responsible for some human diseases, such as cancer? Experimental
treatments were tried on some patients suffering from some forms of
cancer, like M.D.S. These patients were treated with drugs trying to
eliminate those Methyl tags which were thought to be responsible for
silencing some particular genes. Scientists thought the diming of these
Marco Corrao
Period 6
Marco Corrao
Period 6
10.
epigenome project
Towards
The overall conclusions about these studies and discoveries are extremely
important. We came across a scientific evidence that the way our genes act
express themselves- is regulated by the epigenome and is as important as
our actual genome. This discoveries bring about the incredible relevance of
the environmental exposure in the determining who we are, giving nurture
an incredible power, enhanced by the fact that these changes are often
inheritable. Overall, we can say that the study of epigenetics may open to a
prosperous future and hope regarding the way we study and treat diseases,
as well as raising ethical questions on the way we should live our lives. The
mapping of the human genome was, accordingly, just the first step in
understanding our complexity. Now, we should aim further, toward a Human
Epigenome Project.