In the
article I read it tells about the Dutch Famine and how people conceived during the famine have altered DNA. The Dutch Famine was during the winter of 1944 in the Netherlands and lasted about 6 months. What they found was that kids who were conceived during the famine, but not born, were born a normal weight! According to researchers, these babies growth genes were altered while in the womb. However, it seems as if now the children conceived during this time are at high risk for metabolic diseases. Researchers in the field of
epigenetics tested the DNA of same sexed siblings, one being exposed and one being non-exposed to the famine. Their results showed different gene activity settings and that the siblings exposed to the famines genes were altered for life. What this told researchers was, that environmental factors during development are very significant to the offspring's life.
This article truly amazed me! It is amazing to me what DNA can do and how your body can adapt to so many different things, science truly is amazing. The DNA altered itself before the body was even developed all because of the environment, I never realized how much of an affect the environment had on life. Also, I had never heard of epigenetics before and it seems like a very interesting field that I would love to learn more about.
I guess it makes sense that the body will alter the DNA based on nutrition. DNA needs the nutritional material to replicate to perform daily function especially when growing up/ in the womb. Also, if diet does change the genome while in the womb, it makes sense that changing the diet can result in having different gender kids.
ReplyDeleteI think it's fascinating how organisms adapt in order to survive. Given that the mothers were likely malnourished, it's remarkable that these babies survived and that too were born at a healthy weight.
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