This article was taken from the January 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Is it nature or nurture that determines who we are? For years, geneticists would answer the former, but the scientific community is beginning to agree that an amalgam of environment and behaviour affects how our genes act, in a process known as epigenetics.
Studies show that a gene's expression can be amplified or dampened by prolonged exposure to a stressor or catalyst, such as obesity, starvation, smoking or alcohol abuse. These changes happen outside of, or above (hence epi-), the genome -- without altering it -- yet it appears the changes can be passed on to subsequent generations. Lars Olov Bygren, a preventive-health specialist, found that children of parents who suffered famine in their childhoods had shorter lifespans. He also found this to be the case for the children of fathers who smoked in their teens, despite giving up before conceiving. This phenomenon is explained by the memory or "mark" of the epigenetic alteration being passed on to the successive generation, not changes to the DNA coding.
Scientists are learning to manipulate these marks, by silencing "bad" genes and kick-starting others. They should soon be able to focus on genes that trigger diseases such as cancer, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's. An analogy in the field is: if the genome is the hardware, the epigenome is the software.
All we need are the right coders.
Explore more: Big Ideas For 2012
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
