Stress Alters Children's Genomes

Scientific American published an article on the alteration children can express on their chromosomes when growing up in poor and unstable homes. A study was conducted on African American boys, which concluded that their telomeres, or repeating DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes were fraying over time. When examining DNA from American boys who lived in harsh environments, the scientists found their telomeres to be 19% shorter. One of the many factors used to measure the home environment of the boys was the level of education of their mothers. Boys who mothers had a high-school diploma had telomeres 32% longer than boys whose mothers did not have a diploma. Children from stable homes had telomeres 40% longer than children who experience changes in family structure.
The link between a stressful home environment and telomere length is determined by a 'sensitizing' gene variant, the chemical transmitters serotonin and dopamine. The scientist found that boys with two sensitizing alleles had the shortest telomeres in stressful home environments and the longest telomere length in advantaged environments.
More information about telomeres and telomerase can be found here.