Article Review: Epigenetics inheritance
Nucleic acids are compounds made of simple organic molecules that are in charge of storing and transferring genetic information throughout the central dogma. Genetic information is coded in DNA- Deoxyribonucleic acid- stored in the nucleus of each cell. Healthy individuals have DNA packed into nucleosomes and larger chromosomes, a total of 23 pairs of chromosomes representing the DNA of the person. The 23rd chromosome, sex chromosomes differ between males (Y) and females (X) during conception, the next generation acquires 23 chromosomes from each parent to make up the total of 46 (Rehman, Basit, and Malik 2). DNA, therefore, allows genetic information to be carried to the next generation.
Slow growth period
The slow growth period refers to the period just before children get into pre-puberty. This takes place mid-childhood just before the growth spurt associated with puberty begins. For children at this stage, environmental factors significantly impact the child’s growth and development. For different periods in history, this age is different due to generational differences in the age of puberty. For girls, however, this age is set at about 8-10 years and 9-12 years in boys. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Hypothesis
The study tests a hypothesis that was proposed in the previous studies done in Overkalix, Sweden (Vågerö, Pinger, and Aronsson 1). This hypothesis is that nutritional conditions that affect children during the slow growth phase of one generation influence the health outcomes of subsequent generations. Importantly, the authors also hypothesize that the effects on future generations are sex-specific. Data from the Overkalix studies and the Uppsala Birth Study is replicated to the grandchild generation to determine whether food availability in the first generation affects the likelihood of cancer mortality in the third generation.
Major findings
The authors reported that grandsons, whose paternal grandfathers had excessive access to food in their SGP years, had an elevated risk of mortality from many causes. No excess death risk was reported for the granddaughters. No association was found between accesses to food for paternal grandmothers or maternal grandparents and their grandchildren’s mortality Vågerö, Pinger, and Aronsson 2). Elevated mortality was shown among grandsons, whose paternal grandfathers had excess food in their SGP years. Food access in the first generation was not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, maternal grandmothers, with increased access to food, conveyed a higher risk of diabetes to her grandkids. For cancer, male grandchildren whose paternal grandfathers had increased access to food had a high risk of dying due to cancer.
Expectations
I would not have expected these results. This is because I believed that DNA changes in the body take place in adulthood much more than in childhood. At ten years of age, my assumption was that the DNA of the child is not fully developed and is still too young to register any changes in the child’s environment. However, I expected the results that linked paternal grandfathers to their grandsons due to the passing of information through the Y chromosome, which is absent in females (Curley, Mashoodh, and Champagne, 1).
Causes of transgenerational response
Although it cannot be confirmed, it is likely that the transgenerational response to the changes is caused by epigenetics. Changes can be influenced by mutations in the DNA sequence through methylation, which may be genotype-dependent. Exposure to too much food during the SGP stage may result in epigenetic aging that increases the likelihood of disease susceptibility (Waterland and Jirtle 1). The fact that male grandchildren inherit their chromosomes through the father is likely to account for the transgenerational response.