What it means?
DNA is essentially a recipe book for every cell and protein in your body. And a Gene is a tiny segment of DNA that explains a specific step in a larger recipe. Together, groups of genes work together to describe how a cell should be built, how proteins should be folded, and much more.
When a Gene is ON, being read and followed, that means it’s being expressed. Many genes can have degrees of expression, like a dimmer switch slowly turning up a light’s brightness, instead of just an on/off switch.
For instance, if a certain gene that controls how much fat your body stores is only expressing halfway, then your body will store fat less often – but if that same gene is turned on all the way, your body will try to store a lot of fat! (There’s several different genes that work together to control your metabolism and fat deposits, this is just an example)
Epigenetics is the broad term for all the ways our body can add notes in the margins of our DNA recipe book, changing how our genes are expressed, without changing the DNA itself. Epigenetic Markers act like sticky notes, changing how each step of the recipe is read.
When a Gene is ON, being read and followed, that means it’s being expressed. Many genes can have degrees of expression, like a dimmer switch slowly turning up a light’s brightness, instead of just an on/off switch.
For instance, if a certain gene that controls how much fat your body stores is only expressing halfway, then your body will store fat less often – but if that same gene is turned on all the way, your body will try to store a lot of fat! (There’s several different genes that work together to control your metabolism and fat deposits, this is just an example)
Epigenetics is the broad term for all the ways our body can add notes in the margins of our DNA recipe book, changing how our genes are expressed, without changing the DNA itself. Epigenetic Markers act like sticky notes, changing how each step of the recipe is read.
