The Raelian Movement
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Stress Can Control Our Genes, Researchers Find
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100924122533.htm
ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2010) — Stress has become one of the major
disease states in the developed world. But what is stress? It depends
on from where you look.
You may experience stress as something that affects your entire body
and mind, the causes of which are plentiful. But if we zoom in on the
building bricks of the body, our cells, stress and its causes are
defined somewhat differently. Stress can arise at the cellular level
after exposure to pollution, tobacco smoke, bacterial toxins etc,
where stressed cells have to react to survive and maintain their
normal function. In worst case scenario, cellular stress can lead to
development of disease.
Researchers from Dr. Klaus Hansen's group at BRIC, University of
Copenhagen, have just shown that external factors can stress our cells
through the control of our genes.
"We found that stress-activating factors can control our genes by
turning on certain genes that were supposed to be silenced. It is very
important that some genes are on and others are off in order to ensure
normal foetal development and correct function of our cells later in
life," says Hansen.
Simmi Gehani, PhD-student in the Hansen group, found that exposing
human cells to a stress-activating compound turned on silenced genes.
Even brief changes in gene activation can be disastrous during foetal
development as establishment of correct cellular identity can be
disturbed in our cells. But altered gene activity can also have
consequences in the adult body. "For example, one could imagine that
prolonged stress causes nerve cells in the brain to produce hormones
and other signalling molecules they do not normally produce and this
can disturb normal brain function," says Gehani.
The Hansen research group is very interested in understanding how our
genes are turned on and off.
"We know that different protein complexes can associate with specific
proteins (histones) to which DNA is wound around and thereby determine
whether the genes are active or inactive. Small chemical groups can
cause protein complexes to bind to histones and these can control gene
activity" says Hansen.
The researchers have studied in detail a complex called PRC2. PRC2 can
attach small chemical groups -- methyl groups -- to the histones.
Protective complexes can bind to the histones when this marker is
present and the genes are turned off.
Their new results show that the protective complexes are lost and
selected genes turned on when cells are exposed to external stress
factors. The reason why the complexes are lost is that the stress
factors instruct an enzyme named MSK to attach another chemical group
-- a phosphate group -- to the histones neighbouring the methyl group.
The phosphate group neutralises the effect of the methyl group and
turns specific genes on.
"The consequence is that genes that should be turned off are now
active and this may disturb cellular development, identity and
growth," says Gehani. This means that without damaging our genetic
code external stress factors can control the activity of our genes.
The results are published in the journal Molecular Cell.
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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