Myths and Fables
DNA is Unchangeable
Image Courtesy of Pixabay.com
There is a belief that genetics are immutable. By that I mean once your DNA is set at birth, there is nothing you can do to change it and that DNA will control your entire existence. This even extends to the belief that this static structure can be passed on to children and subject them to the same conditions as the parent
It is now clear that this is not correct. There is an entire field of study known as Epigenetics (1) which examines the way DNA can be modified by diet, toxins in the environment and other items.
1010010010
Gene 1
1000100010
1001101001
0100001011
1100101000
Gene 2
1101001101
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.
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To understand how this works, realize there are strands of DNA between the genes. These are represented by the numbers in the above illustration. These sections of DNA were previously called “Junk DNA” because they did not cause easily observable actions like the genes.
One though to consider. The genes in the cells of your big toe is exactly the same genes in the cells of the heart. Why does your big toe not beat like your heart. This puzzled me as far back as high school
In college I was a computer programmer when I first saw DNA described, I noted that it looked just like a dump of the machine instructions in a computer. The genes looked like the data and the junk DNA looked like the program. Later research has shown this to be true.
Each gene can cause over two hundred different actions depending on actions of the junk DNA (Now called Non-Coding DNA). This Non-Coding DNA can in turn is controlled by the environment surrounding the cell. Since it is possible to change the environment in and around each cell it is possible to change the DNA programming on the fly so to speak.
The environment around and within cells can be changed by the food we eat, the liquids we drink, the air we breathe, the toxins in the environment, viral infections, and even vaccine like injections.
It is this ability to change the actions of the genes within the DNA is one explanation for the fact that people can have the DBA that predisposes then to getting breast cancer for example, but they live their entire lives cancer free.
Clearly we need to find the right combination of all the listed items that allow the proper functioning of the DNA we have and learn how to force a corrections when we inherit faulty DNA. Thankfully, this research is ongoing at an ever increasing rate.