Methylation is the process by which genes are turned on or off by certain compounds without changing the genes themselves. Methylation is the key process that is studied in the field of epigenetics.
Methylation Quotes in Survival of the Sickest
The Survival of the Sickest quotes below are all either spoken by Methylation or refer to Methylation. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7
Quotes
Essentially, one or more of the compounds in the vitamin supplements fed to the expectant mothers reached down into the mouse embryos and flicked the agouti gene into the “off” position. When the baby mice were born, their DNA still contained the agouti gene, but it wasn’t expressed—chemicals had attached to the gene and suppressed its instructions.
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Here’s the first thing we don’t know—we don’t have anywhere near a complete understanding of which genes are turned off or turned down by which methyl donors. For example, methylation of a gene that influences hair color might lead to a harmless change—but the same process that triggered methylation of the hair color gene may also be suppressing a tumor suppressor.
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Methylation Term Timeline in Survival of the Sickest
The timeline below shows where the term Methylation appears in Survival of the Sickest. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7: Methyl Madness: Road to the Final Phenotype
...in the vitamins “turned off” the agouti gene without changing the genes themselves—a process called methylation. One of the leaders of the study explained that maternal nutrition has long been considered...
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...the mothers’ behavior), however. Babies that were groomed by their mothers showed a decrease in methyl markers around the genes involved in brain development because the mothers’ attention triggered methyl markers...
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Methylation is not inherently good or bad—it depends on the gene being turned on or off....
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There is more evidence to support the idea that methylation is tied to cancer: there is a significant connection between breast cancer recurrence and the...
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...about it that researchers still don’t understand yet—including which genes are turned off by which methyl donors. It is important not to try to alter our genes with certain methyl donors,...
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