I have been learning about epigenetics lately. Epigenetics is the theory of how the genetic information stored in our DNA influences (and is influenced by) all of our different cells differently. That is why, even though each one of our cells carry the exact same genetic information, but we can have such amazing variation in the different types and function of our cells.
The root word of epigenetics is not genetics like you might think, but epigenesis, which has to do with how one single fertilized egg can develop into a whole entire human, with our vast array of cell types.
In both epigenetics and epigenesis, the environment inside the cell determines how the genetic code is read and used which in turn influences the environment inside of the cell. The other (vastly important) thing that influences the cell and drives this feedback loop is how the cell (chemically) interacts with its neighbour cells. This is why the location of a fetal stem cell in the developing embryo determines what type of cell it will become.
Location! Location! Location!
It makes me think about how everything around us shapes us and influences us. We think this thought because of something we heard before, or this makes me afraid because of something that happened to me... And it never stops. Everything and everyone around us is affecting everything and everyone else in a never ending cycle. Some might call it karma.
It's important to remember because we often get upset about the ways we differ from people in opinions, feelings and beliefs. We must not forget how we have come to have the condition we are in and know that they have come to their condition in their own way. Have compassion. Maybe choose to be influenced in a different way.
Oh yeah, and that's the other cool thing! If the conditions change, everything changes!
They did this experiment where they took some human malignant melanoma cells and placed them in the midst of a group of chicken stem cells. The most amazing thing happened. The cells dedifferentiated from dangerous cancer cells into extremely healing embryonic stem cells.
This sort of dedifferentiation happens naturally you know. It happens to some types of our cells (like cartilage and bone) when we sustain an injury, or more dramatically in lizards and amphibians when they lose a limb.
It's interesting how a horrible thing like an injury can bring about the most miraculous of changes.
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