View Single Post
Old 03-16-2015, 09:56 AM   #67 (permalink)
Lanfear
Senior Member
2020 Marathon Kickstarter Backer2019 Marathon Kickstarter Backer24-hour Marathon 2018 Fundraiser Backer24-hour Marathon 2017 Fundraiser Backer47-hour Marathon 2016 Kickstarter Backer57-hour Marathon 2015 Kickstarter Backer38-hour Marathon 2014 Kickstarter Backer54-hour Marathon 2013 Kickstarter Backer
 
Lanfear's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Posts: 2,577
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosa View Post
I understand 100% that you are trying to teach poor piff here the basics. but what happened to mr. stickler? how about epigenetic changes (environmental experience-driven modifications to your DNA)? those can be totally heritable... they just wash out after a couple generations. and they are a relatively recent discovery. but real none-the-less.

some things that cause epigenetic changes:

- mother's diet
- mother's stress level during gestation

You can acquire epigenetic modifications to your own DNA through your own experiences, and those then influence the expression of your own genes for the rest of your life.

basically, parts of your DNA get permanently locked up so certain genes can't be expressed.

say, genes for certain stress hormones. young victims of verbal and physical abuse grow up to have highly-stereotyped epigenetic binding patterns on genes for specific stress response hormones...

its super fucked up, but also super cool.

these modifications can sometimes be inherited for a couple generations, but then they go away. so they aren't permanent to the gene pool.

ok byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I first heard about epigenetics a few days ago in a YouTube video - fascinating stuff.

(Offline)   Reply With Quote