Cultural Epigenetics

By Bonnie Specter

“Culture and Biology Creating a Post Epigenetic Human.”

Jason Silva on Life.

http://vimeo.com/36989657

Cultural Epigenetics

Cultural/ Behavioral Epigenetics: The quest to understand how environmental factors can affect alterations in our biology, and subsequently our behaviors as human beings.

http://www.nyas.org/

We are going to focus on...The different ways humans evolve over time (Genetics, Environment, Culture.)The effect these changes have on our development as a species. The importance of studying this field, to better understand how to guide our evolutionary growth as humans.

Biology is increasingly acknowledging the role of culture in shaping the evolutionary process at the genetic level, by the construction of new selective environments.

(Sinha 5)

An historical example...

Contraception and abortion from the ancient world to the Renaissance. John M. Riddle

We look closely at these examples of human behavior because...

There is no evidence of dramatic genetic discontinuity between humans and their closest primate relatives... this suggests that whatever cognitive capacities distinguish the human species from other closely related species are unlikely to be attributed to dedicated genetic material available for directly coding such capabilities.

(Sinha 2)

Something other than genetics changed human evolution.

Epigenetics...

Epigenetics: Definition

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence – hence the name epi- (Greek: επί- over, above, outer) -genetics.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/epigenetics

Epigenetics and Evolution Epigenetic factors are increasingly considered important for conceiving how genes are (or are not) expressed in processes of development and how environmentally induced changes of the organism can be transmitted to the offspring.

(Papadopoulos 446)

So we are talking about thousands of years, right?

“No longer can we argue over which has a greater impact, genes or the environment. Both are inextricably linked: environmental events can create biochemical changes that ultimately dictate gene expression, whether at birth or 40 years down the road.”

http://www.nyas.org

Generational Epigenetics

Evolution is influenced by more than genetics

and environment:Current US work on gene-environment interactions in psychiatry must be extended to a model of gene-culture- environment... The cultural and epigenetic systems of heritage may well provide the `missing' heritability of complex diseases now under so much intense discussion.

We recognize the fundamental role culture plays in human biology, another heritage mechanism parallel to, and interacting with, the more familiar genetic and epigenetic systems. We do this via a model through which culture acts as another tunable epigenetic catalyst that both directs developmental trajectories, and becomes convoluted with individual ontology by a social interaction that is itself culturally driven.

(Wallace 1)

Culture?

What..??!

on·tol·o·gy/ Noun: The branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of

being.

1. the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action

2. the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group: the Mayan culture

3. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.

Cul·ture/ Noun:

http://dictionary.com/

Culture and Biology are LinkedHumans are not only evolving genetically, but also because of our environment. Because our environment is our selective culture, we are evolving biologically to adapt to the choices we have inside our culture.Our culture must be attenuated to our biology for humans to evolve correctly, and with optimal health.

Lets look at an example...

In rats, endocrine differences were observed in offspring of males exposed to morphine.

The effects of adolescent morphine exposure on the sexual maturation of male rats, their reproductive capacity and the development of their progeny were examined. Groups of prepubescent male rates were implanted with morphine- or placebo-pellets; the pellets were not removed to assure the sustained release of morphine for 3 to 4 weeks and to avoid the confounding effects of a precipitated withdrawal syndrome. Groups of animals were sacrificed at weekly intervals through adulthood for an assessment of reproductive endocrine function. A large group, however, was also bred with drug-naive females at 85 days of age (8 weeks after morphine or placebo pellet implantation), when the acute and chronic effects of morphine on reproductive endocrine parameters had dissipated;

Continued. Results indicated that morphine exposure during adolescence led to a pronounced inhibition of a number of indices of sexual maturation (serum testosterone, hormone levels, reduced weights of the testes and seminal vesicles). Breeding morphine- and placebo-implanted male rats with drug-naive females resulted in smaller liters derived from morphine-treated fathers when compared to controls, but in all other respects the development of the offspring in the two groups were equivalent. However, upon reaching adulthood, a number of selective endocrine differences were detected in morphine-derived offspring when compared to controls.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2005573

Endocrine System Regulates:

SleepMoodLoveHealthGrowth

Why is this an important field to study and how can understanding help us to

grow as a species?

P. Gilbert suggests an extended evolutionary perspective, in which evolved mechanisms like the `fight-or-flight' response are inappropriately excited or suppressed, resulting in such conditions as anxiety or post traumatic stress disorders.

(Wallace 2)

Nesse suggests that depression may represent the dysfunction of an evolutionary adaptation which down-regulates foraging activity in the face of unattainable goals. (Wallace 2)

Disruption of epigenetic profile is a feature of most cancers and is speculated to play a role in the etiology of other complex diseases including asthma allergy, obesity, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, autism spectrum disorders and bipolar disorders and schizophrenia.

(Wallace 10)

In Conclusion...Genes and culture constitute two distinct but interacting systems of information inheritance within human populations, and information of both kinds has infuence over behaviors, which creates a real and unambiguous symmetry between genes and phenotypes on the one hand, and culture and phenotypes on the other. (Wallace 4)

Citations:"Behavioral Epigenetics." The New York Academy of Sciences, 29 Oct. 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://www.nyas.org/Events/Detail.aspx?cid=e6317774-2273-42f4-bc33-9ca8b6d36074>.

Cicero, T. J. "Influence of Morphine Exposure during Adolescence on the Sexual Maturation of Male Rats and the Development of Their Offspring." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Mar. 1991. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2005573>.

culture. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved April 02, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture

"Epigenetics." En.eikipedia.org. Crowd Sourced Resource, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics>.

Papadopoulos, Dimitris. "The Imaginary of Plasticity: Neural Embodiment, Epigenetics and Ecomorphs." Sociology Review 59.3 (2011): 1-38. Print.

Citations (Continued:)Riddle, John M. "Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance." Google Books. Harvard University Press. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://books.google.com/books?id=1vS85LtlsnIC>.

Silva, Jason. ""LIFE" - Human Project on Vimeo." Vimeo. The Human Project, 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://vimeo.com/36989657>.

Sinha, Chris. "Epigenetics, Semiotics, and the Mysteries of the Organism." Biological Theory 1.2. University of Portsmouth, UK, 26 Feb. 2006. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. <http://www.sedsu.org/Pdf/SinhaJoP/SinhaBT1(2).pdf>.

Wallace, Rodrick. "The Cultural Epigenetics of Psychopathology: The Missing Heritability of Complex Diseases Found?" - Cogprints. The New York State Psychiatric Institute, 14 Nov. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://cogprints.org/6658/>.

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