Genes or environment? Or the same question, rephrased: Nature or nurture? What influences and determines your life: genes ("nature") or experience and environment ("nurture")? Scientists and philosophers have gravitated towards either of the extremes; however implausible their explanations, their deliberations resulted in the middle path view that physical determinants like appearance and predispositions to diseases are dictated by genes, but emotional determinants like anger, greed, jealousy and virtue are governed by environment the person grows up under.
Researchers now know these factors are not independent: the environment can modify genes or, rather, its expression — a study now popularly known as epigenetics.
Epigenetics refers to the influence of the environment on the expression of the genetic code. Not only does our environment influence our mental and physical health, it can also change the functioning of the genes we inherit at birth. Many genes require specific environmental circumstances in order to be expressed; many genes are never expressed.
Epigenetics therefore refers to how genes are controlled by a series of switches: the food we swallow, the air we breathe, or even the affection we receive from our parents have the power to turn gene activity "on" or "off."
At its most basic, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation.
The genes are like the address on an envelope that generates the process of delivery, which of course is environment-dependent. Under certain circumstances, the address gets rewritten too, and forms the new address for subsequent deliveries. That is, some of the modifications on the genes can be passed to the next generation, suggesting it may be possible for our life experiences to affect our children and grandchildren.
Epigenetics is the link between mind and matter that explains how mind influences matter. It is this link that explains how your faith and prayer actually work!
From Environment to Genes
Scientists have studied identical twins who grew under different circumstances. They have documented how lives have changed for those who lived in penury, followed by abundant years, and how such extreme conditions have affected the health conditions of even subsequent generations.
From these and other studies, researchers identified the mechanism by which the environment could modify genetic information, beyond changing the genetic code — the instruction manual for life. One answer seems to be found in how tightly the double helix of DNA is wound.
Not all genes are active at all times. When not in use, DNA is tightly wound on protein spools inside the cell. Cells are constantly adding or removing chemical marks — usually methyl groups to the DNA or acetyl groups to the spools. This process, called DNA methylation, is one of several epigenetic mechanisms that cells use to control gene expression. Some marks allow the tightly coiled DNA strands to unwind, exposing their genetic sequence. Others encourage the DNA to coil tighter, ensuring the gene remains off-limits.
Methylation can sometimes be affected by the environment, as seen in the ‘agouti mouse’ experiment. In 2003, scientists fed dietary supplements to agouti mouse — a fat, yellow mouse with an increased tendency for diabetes and cancer — before and during pregnancy. The result: obese, yellow mothers bore lean, healthy offspring with brown coats. The supplements worked by adding a chemical mark to genes involved in coat color and feeding.
Genes are not your destiny!
If you thought the genes we are born with seals your destiny, take heart. There is nothing perhaps more dis-empowering than being told that you are your genes.
A series of experiments on simple organisms with the same genetic makeup by Dr. Bruce Lipton showed beyond doubt that the environment changed the expression of the genes.
We are not victims of our genetics. How we view life, money, love, happiness, disease, etc., and how we deal with stress, plays the biggest role in shaping our environment, and thus our genes. The biggest things we as humans inherit from our family members are not their genes, but their habits — their thinking patterns. And you can change this.
Own up the onus of shaping your destiny. Start taking more responsibility and accountability for it.
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