Epigenetics in Society
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University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Emerging Scholars Press Emerging Scholars 2015 Epigenetics in Society Epigenetics Study Group University of Windsor Lina Chaker University of Windsor Kendall Diemer University of Windsor Florida Doci University of Windsor Curtis Foreman University of Windsor See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/emergingscholarspress Part of the Biology Commons, Cell and Developmental Biology Commons, Law Commons, Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, Public Policy Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Group, Epigenetics Study; Chaker, Lina; Diemer, Kendall; Doci, Florida; Foreman, Curtis; Gosselin, Natalie; Hebert, Jessica; Hegazi, Aaron; Hetzel, Roni; Market, Marisa; Pfaff, Jake; Scott, Kaela; Spencer, Candace; Timperio, Nadia; Tobin, Kaylyn; Venney, Clare; Woghiren, Melissa; Zakaria, Sandy; and Crawford, Michael J., "Epigenetics in Society" (2015). Emerging Scholars Press. 1. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/emergingscholarspress/1 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Emerging Scholars at Scholarship at UWindsor. It has been accepted for inclusion in Emerging Scholars Press by an authorized administrator of Scholarship at UWindsor. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Epigenetics Study Group, Lina Chaker, Kendall Diemer, Florida Doci, Curtis Foreman, Natalie Gosselin, Jessica Hebert, Aaron Hegazi, Roni Hetzel, Marisa Market, Jake Pfaff, Kaela Scott, Candace Spencer, Nadia Timperio, Kaylyn Tobin, Clare Venney, Melissa Woghiren, Sandy Zakaria, and Michael J. Crawford This book is available at Scholarship at UWindsor: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/emergingscholarspress/1 Epigenetics in Society Windsor Epigenetics Study Group Edited by Michael Crawford Emerging Scholars’ Press i Copyright © 2015 Michael Crawford The Authors retain copyright and grant the right to publish the Work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 license, allowing others to download and share the Work with an acknowledgement of the authorship and initial publication at Leddy Library, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Under the CC BY-NC-ND license, users may not use the work for commercial purposes; nor may they alter, transform, or build upon the work without obtaining documented permission from the (co)author(s) of the Work. All rights reserved. ISBN-13: 9780920233726 ii CONTENTS Dedication v Acknowledgments vii Preface ix 1 Epigenetics in Society – Not Your Mendelian Genetics… 1 (Your genome is far from Mendel’s pea plants) Michael Crawford, Melissa Woghiren, Kendall Diemer, and Kaela Scott 2 A Beginner's Guide to the Mechanisms and Assessment 13 of Epigenetics Natalie Gosselin, Curtis Foreman 3 Cancer: An Example of Epigenetic Peril and Promise 49 Sandy Zakaria, Marisa Market, and Jessica Hebert 4 Dietary Epigenetics: Are You What Your Parents Ate? 71 Lina Chaker, Roni Hetzel, Kaela Scott, and Marisa Market 5 Chemical Epigenetics: Prescriptions, Pollutants, and 129 Picking Your Poison Aaron Hegazi, Jake Pfaff, and Kaela Scott 6 Developmental Epigenetics and Reproductive Medicine: 161 Apparently Always A Parent Marisa Market, and Jessica Hebert 7 The Epigenetics of Opportunity: Culture and Socialization 211 Nadia Timperio, Kaylyn Tobin, Jessica Hebert, and Aaron Hegazi 8 Epigenetics and Law: The Quest For Justice 245 Florida Doci, Clare Venney, Candace Spencer, and Kendall Diemer 9 Epigenetics and Privacy: Hacking Your Health 265 Kendall Diemer and Melissa Woghiren 10 Where Do We Go From Here? 289 Michael Crawford Glossary 299 Index 322 iv DEDICATION We dedicate this book to the spirit of congenial and convivial teamwork that made the project such a joy to realize. Our families have a lot to do with this: they provided the time, patience, nurturing, and support. With love from us to you… v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are grateful to the University of Windsor for support of this effort in the form of a Grant from the Strategic Priorities Fund, technical support from the Leddy Library and Emerging Scholars’ Press, and practical support from the Department of Biological Sciences, the Arts and Sciences Program, and the Faculty of Science. In particular, Drs. John Hudson, Julie Smit, Dennis Higgs, Gwendolyn Ebbett, Lydia Miljan, Marlys Koschinsky, Jean Dalton, and Dave Johnston are owed a special vote of thanks for helping the project along with material, temporal, and practical support. We are also grateful to the manner reviewers - scientists, professors, lawyers, ethicists, and other professionals - who generously contributed their time, knowledge, creativity and patience to improving our efforts. vii PREFACE We intend this book to serve several functions. First, we want to make the field of epigenetics accessible to lay readers. Second, and more importantly, we want to excite further interest and concern regarding the social, ethical, legal, health, and policy implications that this field will have for all arenas of our lives. Third, we want to arm our readers with knowledge and wariness so that they can understand and critique the nuanced debates that will inevitably arise when costs and benefits must be weighed: while the effects of epigenetics upon us as individuals may be subtle, the demographic implications and costs are huge. The book is organized into discrete sections, each of which can be read on its own, although we recommend reading the first chapter as a primer to get the general gist of the picture, implications, our concerns, and agenda. Given the extensive ramifications of epigenetics to most realms of our lives, students of public health, ethics, law, medicine, biology and philosophy will find the contents useful, interesting, and engaging. We have highlighted some of the technical terms and included a glossary, and the end of each chapter terminates with a non- comprehensive list of questions and solutions intended to stimulate thought and debate. Each chapter has been reviewed and assessed by experts in the field. We have endeavored to check our facts and references rigorously, and to ensure the originality of our work. We hope you will find the effort of reading stimulating, provocative, and rewarding. ix Chapter 1 Not Your Mendelian Genetics… (Your genome is far from Mendel’s pea plants) Michael Crawford, Melissa Woghiren, Kendall Diemer, and Kaela Scott Abstract The DNA sequences that encode our genes interact with and are regulated by associations with many other molecules, and this constellation of players regulates how we respond to our environment. The sequence of DNA itself remains unchanged: the additional factors that package the genome into chromosomes create a dynamic architectural structure that modulates DNA activity and accessibility. More recently, it has become clear that the reverse is also true - our experience of our environment and social relations record and inscribe changes to the way that our genes behave, and this in turn has implications for our future health. In the years since the human genome was sequenced, it has become apparent that this higher order of architectural organization is much more complex and subtle than formerly acknowledged. An ever-expanding list of influences impinge upon it, and the changes that are installed are referred to as the: epigenome, epigenomic/epigenetic imprint, or sometimes simply as imprinting. Some of the packaging and behavioral changes are transient, and others may persist to affect our health decades later. Some might even transmit to our offspring. The diverse influences that modify 1 our epigenome include: eating habits, socio-economic status, education level, drugs, and toxin exposure to name but a few. Since an individual’s epigenetic status can affect health decades - even generations later - the social, medical, ethical, and demographic impact of epigenetics are likely to be huge. We introduce the breadth of influences that need to be considered, and outline our agenda for discussion. 1.1 Introduction: What is Epigenetics? Have you ever stopped to wonder why identical twins are never completely identical? When watched closely, unique characters become apparent. As individuals, they may differ in preferences of dress, foods, and what interests them most. They grow and develop their own quirks and differences that amplify with age. This is often written off as the result of different experiences, molding them through development… But what about variances in health? What can be said of the identical twin who develops bipolar disorder or is highly susceptible to depression while their counterpart is not? If they share the same genomes, then why are they not identical in every respect? For that matter, why does a 1700s painting of my father-in-law’s ancestor look like the descendent managed to transport back through time to pose in dress-up clothes for the portrait? The genes for facial characteristics should have been diluted 1 in 32. Something has always been missing in our understanding of how genomes and inheritance function. These discrepancies present us with questions that may now be answered through the involvement of an additional layer of information encoding and inheritance: the epigenome. For biologists, a surprising feature of the Human Genome project was the degree to which it required constant revision of our definition and understanding of what constitutes a gene. Nature is subtle, and the genome turned out to be much more richly 2 Introduction to Epigenetics