Image: On March 21, Dr. Laramie Lemon, a professor in the UGA Genetics Department, presented a "Are We Really Our Genes" conversation, where she explored the difference between genetics and epigenetics and how acknowledging these differences can assist scientists in preventive research of diseases. The conversation opened up with the difference between genetics and epigenetics, more specifically breaking down what epigenetics is. Epigenetics is the study of how your behavior and environment can cause changes that affect how your genes work. For example, diet, stress, or the air quality of your environment can all alter how your genes work from how they were supposed to. This is different from genetics because genetics is irreversible, but epigenetics can always change, similarly to how your behavior and environment can change. The big question that was asked next is how can you tell that epigenetics is real and not just another part of your genetics? And if it is real, to what extend can epigenetics change gene expression? To answer that, scientists did a study with two rat mothers and their children. The first rat mother was not very nurturing to her children while the second mother was very nurturing to her children. The children of the first mother grew up to be anxious as a result. When those children grew up and had their own kids, they also became non-nurturing. On the other hand, the second mother's children grew up to be calm. When they had their own kids, they were very nurturing towards them. This became a cycle for each generation. Every child who became a mother in the pool of rats with the non-nurturing mother became anxious and non-nurturing themselves, while every child who became a mother in the pool of rats with the nurturing mother became calm and nurturing towards their children. Scientists used these two pools of rats to determine if this was the coded genetics of these rats or of it was the environment that influenced the behavior of these children. So to test, scientists took only one child from each group and swapped them to the other mother. When the children grew up this time, the child that was switched to the non-nurturing mother pool grew up to be anxious like the rest of her children. As for the child who was switched to the nurturing mother pool, they grew up to be calm and nurturing later on in life. This experiment proved that on a behavioral bases, the environment has an influence on mental conditions, painting a simplified difference between genetics and epigenetics. To take the research a step further, scientists also studied monozygotic twins, or identical twins, to observe how influential epigenetics can be on people. Studying identical twins eliminates the worry of telling the difference between genetics and epigenetics since twins have the exact same copy of genetics. With that, scientists first looked at 3-year-old identical twins and looked at their genes. What they saw was a copy-paste picture of the same genetic code. Just like how the identical twins looked the same, they behaved the exact same as well. Scientists then looked at a pair of 50-year-old identical twins, who no longer live in the same environment compared to when they were children. While physical genetic code, like height, were still similar between the twins, their behavior from each other had drastically changed. There was little to no similarity between the twins, all from an environment difference. The insight we gain from studying twins helps us to better understand how nature and nurture work together. Researchers have compared characteristics in twins in an effort to determine the extent to which certain traits are inherited, like eye color, and which traits are learned from the environment, such as language. Twin studies have identified a number of behavioral traits and diseases that are likely to have a genetic component, and others that are more strongly influenced by the environment. For example, twin studies were able to identify how reading disabilities, like dyslexia, have a strong genetic component, while other traits, like arthritis, are most likely influenced by the environment. By identifying these differences, scientists are able to invest in preventative research on which environmental influences cause certain diseases.
