The evaluation epigenetics

The discovery of DNA in universal history is still a child. Inspired by Charles Darwin and his brilliant work "the origin of species" of 1859, and later with Gregor Mendel in 1865 with the fundamental laws of heredity, which became known to history as the father of classical genetics.

It was identified in 1940 and represented a revolution in the knowledge of genetics. It was through him that it was possible for science to understand the fundamental principles in the transmission of hereditary characteristics and the possibility of mutations with permutations of the letters of the genetic code.

The Human Genome project was expected to confirm the existence of more than 100,000 individual genes, responsible for all gene expression

But in 2003, the complete DNA sequencing allowed writing and decoding the codes of human beings in particular and of living beings in general. However, it turned out that the human genome is only composed of 23,000 genes, little more than the common fruit fly and much less than those found in a grain of rice.

This raised another question: What else could control gene expression? 

The answer is Epigenetics, the interaction between environmental signals and the adaptation process that living systems use to thrive. 

Erwin Schrödinger in 1944 incorporated the knowledge of quantum physics in the field of molecular biology and laid the foundation for what we now call Epigenetics.

Today, we know that gene expression is not only mediated by DNA coding, which represents only 2% of genomic expression. It is heavily influenced by informational signals received from the environment by non-coding DNA, which represents the remaining 98%, called “junk DNA”.

Harmful signals emanating from the environment cause disharmony, so that the human body responds, changing the phenotype without changing the genotype. This change is reflected in our physiology. These signals include information about the air we breathe, the food we eat, the impact of the electromagnetic environment and even more than 50,000 daily thoughts.

In summary, the Epigenetics studies how our lifestyle influences our genes causing a certain people, from a certain part of the globe, to have social, cultural habits, food and a specific natural propensity for a certain type of disease, through their own lifestyle.