Nature, nurture and epigenetics

David Crews; Ross Gillette; Isaac Miller-Crews; Andrea C Gore; Michael K Skinner

doi:10.1016/j.mce.2014.07.013

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Nature, nurture and epigenetics

David Crews, Ross Gillette, Isaac Miller-Crews, Andrea C Gore and Michael K Skinner

Molecular and cellular endocrinology, Vol.398(1-2), pp.42-52

12/2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2014.07.013

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https://hdl.handle.net/2376/113490

PMCID: PMC4300943

PMID: 25102229

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Abstract

Genetic Predisposition to Disease

DNA Methylation - genetics

Environmental Exposure

Gene-Environment Interaction

Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Endocrine Disruptors - adverse effects

Fungicides, Industrial - adverse effects

Oxazoles - adverse effects

Corticosterone - blood

Androgen Antagonists - adverse effects

Epigenetics

Gene Expression

Real life by definition combines heritability (e.g., the legacy of exposures) and experience (e.g. stress during sensitive or 'critical' periods), but how to study or even model this interaction has proven difficult. The hoary concept of evaluating traits according to nature versus nurture continues to persist despite repeated demonstrations that it retards, rather than advances, our understanding of biological processes. Behavioral genetics has proven the obvious, that genes influence behavior and, vice versa, that behavior influences genes. The concept of Genes X Environment (G X E) and its modern variants was viewed as an improvement on nature-nurture but has proven that, except in rare instances, it is not possible to fractionate phenotypes into these constituent elements. The entanglement inherent in terms such as nature-nurture or G X E is a Gordian knot that cannot be dissected or even split. Given that the world today is not what it was less than a century ago, yet the arbitrator (differential survival and reproduction) has stayed constant, de novo principles and practices are needed to better predict what the future holds. Put simply, the transformation that is now occurring within and between individuals as a product of global endocrine disruption is quite independent of what has been regarded as evolution by selection. This new perspective should focus on how epigenetic modifications might revise approaches to understand how the phenotype and, in particular its components, is shaped. In this review we summarize the literature in this developing area, focusing on our research on the fungicide vinclozolin.

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Title: Nature, nurture and epigenetics
Creators: David Crews - Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA. Electronic address: crews@mail.utexas.edu
Ross Gillette - Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Isaac Miller-Crews - Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Andrea C Gore - Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Michael K Skinner - Center for Reproductive Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4236, USA
Publication Details: Molecular and cellular endocrinology, Vol.398(1-2), pp.42-52
Academic Unit: Biological Sciences, School of
Publisher: Ireland
Grant note: R01 ES023254 / NIEHS NIH HHS ES020662 / NIEHS NIH HHS ES017538 / NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES020662 / NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES012974 / NIEHS NIH HHS ES012974 / NIEHS NIH HHS ES023254 / NIEHS NIH HHS R21 ES017538 / NIEHS NIH HHS
Identifiers: 99900547798301842
Language: English
Resource Type: Review