Posted on 11/13/2006 3:06:19 PM PST by blam
You are what your grandmother ate 22:00 13 November 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Roxanne Khamsi
The mice on the left-hand side have active AVY genes, giving them golden fur, while those on the right have silenced AVY genes (Image: Cropley et al/PNAS)
A mother’s diet can change the behaviour of a specific gene for at least two subsequent generations, a new study demonstrates for the first time.
Feeding mice an enriched diet during pregnancy silenced a gene for light fur in their pups. And even though these pups ate a standard, un-enriched diet, the gene remained less active in their subsequent offspring.
The findings could help explain the curious results from recent studies of human populations – including one showing that the grandchildren of well-fed Swedes had a greater risk of diabetes.
The new mouse experiment lends support to the idea that we inherit not only our genes from our parents, but also a set of instructions that tell the genes when to become active. These instructions appear to be passed on through “epigenetic” changes to DNA – genes can be activated or silenced according to the chemical groups that are added onto them.
Gene silencer
David Martin at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in California, US, and colleagues used a special strain of genetically identical mice with an overactive version of a gene that influences fur colour. Mice with the AVY version of this gene generally have golden fur.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
PUKS. Heritability of acquired atrtributes cannot be happening on lamarckian time scale, for that would require too fluid genetics. And genetics is reasonably resilient.
Well I hope my grandmother had a good diet in TN during the civil war.
...I'm country eggs, farm fresh chickens, garden vegetables, raw milk & butter, cornbread, biscuits, homemade pork sausage, fresh wilted lettuce (in hot hog lard), coffee, iced tea, cocoanut cake, egg custard pie . .
I think that God created living beings, including man, through evolutionary process and in stages. As it is described in the Biblical story of Creation.
But I do not think that the Bible was intended to be read as biological handbook. Rather as a spiritual, mystical, moral and metaphysical text. So we need to read Bible with the right understanding and in right spirit.
On the other hand, God gave us the reason capable to explore the created world. I expect that the mechanism of evolution is as complex and elegant as biochemistry is or quantum physic. I reject crude and ugly the so called Darwinian/Jurassic Park paradigm (in which the inane random mutations are winnowed by imprecise selection) .
God is greater Artist than that. Science, if free to advance, might show us a little more about His skill.
How, exactly?
Actually, with 21st century evolutionary biology that takes comparative genomics and other 21st century biology (e.g., epigenetics, micro-RNA) seriously, we are going to go WAY beyond both Darwin and Lamarck!!! We are now where physics was in 1900, just before Einstein and quantum mechanics.
This is a very long story, and I know what I am talking about. But it is too long a story for me to get into on a forum such as this.
I am very eager to learn what you know about genetics proposed by Darwin.
Let's hope caviar and smoked salmon enrich my life.
I agree completely! My point about "rehabilitation" of Lamarck, that he will be to some extent vindicated versus his so called Darwinian critics.
My grandparents were all immigrants. And they and assorted relatives switched to or ate this 'new' McGovern diet during the 60's & 70's. And it didn't do anything good for my grandmother's health. I remember the older relatives lamenting that after coming to America, the American born relatives were far less healthy (especially on my father's side), and they blamed the change in diet. Those who stuck to the 'old' ways longer, with healthy American additions, did better. My grandfather loved brown bread spread with a thick smear of lard. He lived to 92.
My grandmother loved raw onions. I can't eat them raw, or even partly cooked.
Say What??
I wonder how that happened?
Well then, if food effects genetics what else might? It is well established that emotions/attitude effect hormone levels and immune response.
cause and effect isn't just for asians anymore =8-O
Maybe there are biological/hormonal mechanisms of traits transfer AFTER the birth - pheromones might synchronize genetic switches or processing among close relatives?
Actually, to follow your logic, it was mainstream science backing up Biblical accuracy.
If any chemical change can be shown to result in a genetically altered outcome in progenesis then a whole lot of things are on the table.
Wait - a - minute! I just checked, and Twinkies ain't got none of that stuff!
--raw milk & butter--
Did it really tastes as good as I remember?
LMAO! Well done.
I don't remember. I guess I was a little kid the last time I had raw milk. That was my grandmother.
Oh, I do remember the country butter; used to help my grandmother churn it - and it was good.
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