Did you know that a banana has more genes than humans?! But how are humans far more complex than bananas with so few genes? Well, that’s because of epigenetics, the turning on and off of specific genes in the body.
Epigenetics plays just as important a role as your DNA. While your DNA codes for how your body functions, epigenetics determines when and if those genes are expressed. When a protein “hugs” a DNA sequence too tightly, the gene can turn off, essentially hiding the gene from the body. Team AP Bio watched “Ghost in Your Genes,” a documentary specifically about epigenetics and how epigenetics can impact everyday life for individuals.
Watch the trailer here!
The documentary highlights an important experiment about identical twins. While identical twins share the same DNA, twins still have vast differences due to epigenetics. In the experiment, 40 sets of twins of all ages were gathered, and the individuals’ DNA was sampled.
Scientists found that twins at a younger age had fewer epigenetic tags, indicating that the DNA was more fully expressed. However, identical twins at an older age had multiple epigenetic tags on different parts of the DNA, causing vast differences, such as one twin getting breast cancer and the other not. I found the experiment especially interesting because the results proved that epigenetics can play a significant role in how our DNA is expressed and can be influenced by environmental factors such as age.
Additionally, Ghost in Your Genes described how other environmental factors, such as diet, played a crucial role in individuals living in a Swedish village. The experiment found that grandparents who ate lots of food raised the chances for the future generations to get diabetes, even if the grandparents themselves didn’t get the disorder. On the other hand, famine was linked to lower rates of diabetes in the future, in which limited food intake changed how certain genes were expressed.
By mentioning how everyday choices individuals make, such as diet and exercise, can impact health, the documentary reminds viewers to treat the body with care.
Other factors that can affect your genome include…
- Smoking
- Infections
- (click here to learn more)
Overall, I found watching the documentary to be very eye-opening. Now that I know that every choice I make, or environment I’m in, can affect my body, I will be more cautious of the decisions I make and will ultimately work towards living a better, healthier life. So, I highly recommend watching Ghost in Your Genes!
Feel free to comment below with one lifestyle change you could make to prevent harmful epigenetic tags from turning off healthy gene expression!
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