Ovarian Teratoma

The environmental factors that impact the epigenome are diet of the organism, involvement in physical activities and exposure to toxins and stress.

Instead they go through a process of change overtime, or sometimes they’re hereditary. While watching the video, the host Neil deGrasse Tyson stated that our epigenomes tend to change during crucial times in our lives such as puberty and pregnancy. While our mothers were carrying us in their wombs for 9 months, they were passing on these epigenomes that we may pass on to our children. “Just as the genome is passed along from parents to their offspring, the epigenome can also be inherited. The chemical tags found on the DNA and histones of eggs and sperm can be conveyed to the next generation” ("Epigenomics," 2012).

PGS embryo biopsy can also reveal an embryo’s sex. Two types of chromosomes - X and Y - determine the gender of the embryo, while pairs of autosomes (1-22) determine almost everything else. A female embryo will have XX chromosomes, while a male will have XY. The sperm contributes one sex chromosome (X or Y) and 22 autosomes, while the egg contributes one sex chromosome (X only) and 22 autosomes.

Recent experiments in mice have demonstrated that the process of transgenerational inheritance is more complex than the DNA just passing from parent to offspring. For example, the researchers have suggested that even a person’s learned experiences —which do not alter genetic material— can also be passed from generation to generation. A recent study in the journal Science demonstrates how DNA binding factors (transcription factors) react to and interpret the epigenetic changes. The study’s co-author, Jussi Taipale, stated, “This study identifies how the modification of the DNA structure affects the binding of transcription factors, and increases our understanding of how genes are regulated in cells.” All human cells consist of the same four

Chapter 2, Conception, Heredity, and Environment, gave an overview on the process of conception, how heredity plays a role in the biological makeup of a child, and how the environment affects and works with heredity. To begin, the chapter discussed fertilization, or conception, and how it’s the process of sperm and ova combine in order to make a baby. The chapter then discussed infertility and how men and women can be unproductive and unable to produce a child. It ended the section by discussing alternative to conception such as adoption or assisted reproductive technologies. Next, it provided information on the various mechanisms of heredity, such as DNA, chromosomes, sex chromosomes, and dominant and recessive inheritances. It went on to

Ovarian cancer is a disease in which malignant or cancerous cells are found in the ovaries. The ovaries are two small organs that are located on each side of the uterus. The way cancer develops is when cells begin to grow out of control. Cancer cells are different from normal cells because they continue to grow and instead of dying, they create abnormal cells that form into a tumor. Woman around age 35-74, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of death. The earlier this cancer is treated the better. Most woman don’t have symptom and when they do end up finding out that they have ovarian cancer their already on their 3rd or higher stage. Every woman diagnosed with this cancer has a survival rate of 30.6% (NOC, 2016).

The DNA in embryo splitting is contributed by germ cells from two individuals—the mother who contributed the egg and the father who contributed the sperm. Thus, the embryos, like those formed naturally or by standard IVF, have two parents. Their mitochondrial DNA is identical. Because this method of cloning is identical with the natural formation of monozygotic twins and, in rare cases, even quadruplets, it is not discussed in detail in this

After multiple successes in the sequencing of various genomes of organisms, the emphasis of research has shifted from what are genomes to what they do and how they work. One explanation used is the concept of epigenetics. Epigenetics has been a trending topic in today’s scientific world. The meaning of the term has varied throughout the course of history. The man who coined the term, Conrad Waddington, originally meant it to be used as a way to more thoroughly explain the interactions between genes and embryological development (Jablonka & Lamb 2006). Modern day scientists have redefined the term to describe a set of heritable molecular events that involve a variety of proteins and regulatory mechanisms that do not involve changes in DNA sequences

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression which may be inherited with no changes to the DNA sequence itself- it may account for non-Mendelian population inheritance patterns. Transgenerational inheritance requires a chromosomal or epigenetic change in the germline allowing the information to be passed on from one generation to another (Anway et al 2005a). In order for epigenetic marks to be passed down, the gametes need to conserve their epigenomes by avoiding two reprogramming events; in the gamete and zygote. DNA demethylation is avoided in some genes called imprinting genes which retain their sex-specific patterns. The environment and external factors may cause additional information to be added on top of the genome. It has generally been accepted that epigenetic marks are removed and re-established in the preceding generation, thus not inherited. Nevertheless, many studies carried out on model organisms are challenging this concept and suggesting that this may not be entirely correct. There may be an incomplete clearing of epigenetic marks resulting in transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. The present generations where being synthesised in the womb of their grandmother. Therefore, does the food my grandmother ate affect my development? Could the air we breathe affect our grandchildren? Many questions are still unknown in the transgenerational epigenetic inheritance field (Youngson and Whitelaw 2008). Phenotypic variation and disease caused by

We have seen that every species of life has a certain number of chromosomes in its somatic cells. These chromosomes exist in pairs. (Baserga Biology 98) The members of each pair are similar in size, shape, and hereditary contact. Man has a 23 pairs of chromosomes; frogs 13 pairs; and pea plants, 7 pairs. Suppose the egg and sperm cells had the same number of chromosomes as all the other cells in an organism. (Mitchison 95) If they united, the somatic cells in the off-spring of such a union would have twice the number of chromosomes they should have. (Baserga Biology 34) For example, human beings have 46 chromosomes in their somatic cells. If the father 's sperm cells and the mother 's egg cells also contained 46 chromosomes, their child 's somatic cells would have 92 chromosomes. The next generation would have 184, and so on. Thus the sex cells must have half the chromosomes found in somatic cells. This is accomplished by meiosis.

In natural child conception, the mother provides the the two X chromosomes and the father provides the X and Y chromosomes. The balance of genetic make up is

Figure 4. Overview of possible epigenetic modifications. These epigenetic modifications can all influence the accessibility of the chromatin structure to the transcriptional machinery. This image was taken from a previous publication (Gräff et al., 2011).

According to the National Institutes of Health, Human Embryonic Cells are cells that can replicate and do not change as they divide from their parents. Human Embryonic Cells are born as cells without a specific purpose, however, they have the ability to become any type of cell in one’s body. Embryonic cells are grown in laboratories taking eggs and sperms donated by people and fertilizing them in a process called In Vitro Fertilization. Once an egg is fertilized by sperm, the zygote turns into an embryo, which is where this cells are found. Human Embryonic cells are found in the fifth day of the fertilized embryo in a mass called blastocyst, and sense they are created in a lab the blastocyst of a pregnant women is not affected because it is not in a her body. (M. DeRouen, 2012)

The word “epigenetic” means “in addition to changes in genetic sequence.” The term has changed to include any process that alters gene activity without changing the DNA sequence, and leads to modifications that can be transmitted to daughter cells. The term epigenetics was first used in the early 1940s, when embryologist Conrad Waddington used it to describe the interactions between genes and their products, which give rise to an organism’s observable characteristics or phenotype.

Every major theme of science is built upon a foundation where later discoveries become building blocks upon the foundation. Every once in a while, an idea that is more accurate will arise, and it will create a scientific revolution and replace the foundation so that a new “structure” can be built. This kind of paradigm shift has occurred numerous times in history and many speculate it will happen again as more scientists research epigenetics. This theory takes root in the idea that change in gene expression (not the gene itself) can be triggered by external forces (i.e. environment), and said change can be inherited. Although many argue that epigenetics will cause a scientific revolution as the antithesis to Darwinian evolution, people are not taking into account that it can be integrated into the current framework. Research by Heijmans et al., Skinner et al., and Joubert et al. have shown that change in gene expression (also referred to as epigenetic mutation) is not only a crucial facet of evolution, but is also similar to genetic mutation and thus able to work in tandem with Darwinian evolution.