About a year ago in the post entitled "Uncle Sam and Gini," I speculated that poverty and income inequality might have negative biological affects on children that take multiple generations to overcome. That could happen through changed in which genes are turned on and off during development through the action of epigenetics.
Well, yesterday was an epigenetic day. First I read an article in the Denver Post that was reprinted from the LA Times. The article reported on research that suggests that the conditions of women during their pregnancies in the 1950's laid the groundwork for the obesity epidemic we see today.
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-obesity-causes-20111219,0,6170668.story
Then later in the day I caught part of "Talk of the Nation" on NPR which discussed how identical twins are not truly identical because of epigenetic differences. They may have the same genes, but interactions with the environment impact the activation and deactivation of those genes which result in differences between the twins.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=144583977&m=144583970
If you find these article interesting, then I'd like to share a recent Science New article that goes to the molecular level to explain how lincRNAs coded from the parts of the DNA that do not code for proteins may orchestrate the differences between cell types within the organism and may be involved in epigenetic differences. These RNAs appear to be involved in cancer promotion and/or prevention.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/336570/title/Missing_Lincs
David
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