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In Brief
- When passing on DNA to their offspring, mothers silence certain genes, and fathers silence others. These imprinted genes usually result in a balanced, healthy brain, but when the process goes awry, neurological disorders can result.
- Imprinting errors are responsible for rare disorders such as Angelman and Prader-Willi syndromes, and some scientists are beginning to think imprinting might be implicated in more common illnesses such as autism and schizophrenia.
- Even typical brains are the result of asymmetric contributions from Mom and Dad. Higher cognitive function seems to be disproportionately controlled by Mom’s genes, whereas the drive to eat and mate is influenced by Dad’s.
Your memories of high school biology class may be a bit hazy nowadays, but there are probably a few things you haven’t forgotten. Like the fact that you are a composite of your parents—your mother and father each provided you with half your genes, and each parent’s contribution was equal. Gregor Mendel, often called the father of modern genetics, came up with this concept in the late 19th century, and it has been the basis for our understanding of genetics ever since.
But in the past couple of decades, scientists have learned that Mendel’s understanding was incomplete. It is true that children inherit 23 chromosomes from their mother and 23 complementary chromosomes from their father. But it turns out that genes from Mom and Dad do not always exert the same level of influence on the developing fetus. Sometimes it matters which parent you inherit a gene from—the genes in these cases, called imprinted genes because they carry an extra molecule like a stamp, add a whole new level of complexity to Mendelian inheritance. These molecular imprints silence genes; certain imprinted genes are silenced by the mother, whereas others are silenced by the father, and the result is the delicate balance of gene activation that usually produces a healthy baby.
This article was originally published with the title A Patchwork Mind.
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43 Comments
Add CommentThe author emphasizes (pp. 2 and 3) imprinting errors or imbalances as the cause of Angelman and Prader-Willi Syndromes. While this can be the case, in the vast majority of cases (approx. 70% for PW and more probably for AS, the cause is the deletion of the needed region of Chromosome 15. As the imprinted gene is silenced (maternal copy for PW and paternal copy for AS), the missing piece is needed. Imprinting errors actually account for less than 5% of PW and even less for AS. L.S. Arenella
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo designer is needed or neccessary. Evolution has no design, interactions happened because they could and imparted some advantage to the organisms survival. All you religious folk need to grow up and accept reality- there's no daddy watching over you and making sure everything goes all right- it either does or you're not here.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe beauty of evolution never ceases to amaze me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy would someone design something that quite often goes horribly wrong? Is the designer incompetent or malevolent?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisbased on those that claim they were made in his image I would have to say, a lot of both...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is a support group for people who see everything as designed. It's called church. As to this article: it is about asking questions. People with all the answers will enjoy discussing them at their support group much more than in this forum.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs for God, She was just kidding!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSlater, THIS IS YOUR MOTHER! HIT THE SUBMIT BUTTON ONCE AND BE PATIENT! PRACTICE WHISTLING!
When scientists speak of "why" they are speaking of understanding the mechanisms influencing or controlling something. Scientists are perfectly willing to admit that we are dealing with some pretty complicated mechanisms here. That does not imply complicated "design" as if done by some being planning and architecting this from on high. It is simply non-sequiter to say that complexity implies design. The scientific laws that we know of in combination with the technical data that we know of, in and of itself, produces a world that can be extraordinarily complex.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisForgive me, but it seems a bit of a cheap shot (and reductive) to assume either incompetence or malevolence when the designed universe doesn't operate as we judge it should. On the one hand, I rarely hear folks comment on the hundred of millions of times things operate precisely as designed. On the other hand I rarely find folks considering that there might be very good reasons for things to "malfunction." I realize this argument will likely be unconvincing, but it is worth considering that we're not here just to function properly. It seems to me that our humanity, in its most glorious sense, is best displayed when we face problems. I just know how much I learned watching my father lovingly care for my mother as she suffered from Alzheimers. The unconditional love and the patience and perseverance was beautiful beyond words. It was for me an illustration that points to something much more powerful and important than ease of existence and then oblivion.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI used to read this article in bible!!!!!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe comments overlook the consequence of "made in his image" (or vice versa). We know a bit about the great Possibley Not Very Intelligent Designer: he does things in his own interests just like us. So he's lonely and bored as anyone Omniscient, Eternal and Omnipotent would be and set the whole show going for his entertainment. And we know another thing too. He wouldn't have stopped at one or indeed one a minute. So in one of the other billions of universes we might expect to find an enviably different hominid with few of our limitations and deficiencies. A pity for us we were amongst the early experimental models.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo, he's not incompetent or malevolent, only ordinarily selfish and trivial as one would expect of one we have made in our image (or vice versa). Bored out of his mind by being eternal, omniscient and omnipotent he thought up universes and evolution as value free entertainment and, logically, just as we would, decided to go on doing it. So, amongst the billions of universes you can be sure that some hominids will think kinder thoughts than we do about the Possibly Not Very Intelligent Designer.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf there is a designer, maybe the designer is just doing the best the designer can do.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe explanation is pretty vague for me when it comes to build a connection between the silence thing and the autism. At least, I would say some of the genetic asymmetries cause some behaviors and habits, which would lead to Autism if not properly oriented or regulated.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWill the god squad please just go away and let us intelligent folks discuss some stuff in peace before we all go to hell? Is your faith so weak that you have to attack us whenever you can? Simply because you can do it in anonymity? I am fascinated by the implications of the epigenome and its affect on evolution. A single molecule (stamp) may determine whether a human is smart like DiscomBob and Larenella or a believer in mythology and superstition like the god squad.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHere's the truth. The jews made up a god to give themselves an identidy. The christians stole the jew god and added another one called jesus. The Romans then stole christianity and reinvented it for their own purposes. Then the muslims came along and stole the jew god again and invented their own brand of non-reasoning. Then the reformists proclaimed that the Roman way was wrong and that their way was better. Now the evangelicals have finally perfected the art of brainwashing children and adults into being conformists and not using their brains. No wonder the jews are always so pissed off.
My suggestion is that you get a life on Earth, because that's all there is, dumb ass.
notslic,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo you really think you are going to change anyones opinion by calling them a dumb ass? You sound just as mean-spirited as Dawkins, who is no doubt your idol.
Give me one fact, which can be tested and repeated, that even implies that your religion is anything but a tool to control the weak minded, and I will never argue with your kind again.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlthough I do know who he is, I haven't read a Dawkins book and I don't relish the argument with mythology believers. I simply want to read and discuss scientific issues with those who think like I do, which is what this website if intended to facilitate. The religious should go to church and pray to god with those who believe as they do. Stop interfering with progress. You use science to invade our discussion, and yet you don't even believe it is valid. You are slic and I am notslic.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article puts me more in awe at the complexities of the natural world. Fascinating when we find one piece to the puzzle, several more possibilities open up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWho needs a silly God when you have reality?
Well said. In addition, the author's comment on p.58 that "almost all children with Prader-Willi syndrome suffer from psychotic disorders" has no substantiation. Cassidy and Driscoll (2009) point out that "psychosis is evident by young adulthood in at least 510% of the individuals." Where did Ms. Wenner get her info re PWS?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell said. In addition, the author's comment on p.58 that "almost all children with Prader-Willi syndrome suffer from psychotic disorders" has no substantiation. Cassidy and Driscoll (2009) point out that "psychosis is evident by young adulthood in at least 5–10% of the individuals." Where did Ms. Wenner get her info re PWS?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"A century’s worth of research in genetics, developmental biology and neuroscience was based on inheritance concepts that are simply not true—which means that we know far less about the brain than we thought we did. "
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisScience is always changing. Yet we still have not learned to be humble. So often we hear, "people back then thought, but now we know..."
Re the God in the universe, that is a matter of faith on which science has no reliable opinon. A real scientist will just have to admit that science doesn't provide an answer. People who that a creator is behind evolution, they are being just as scientic as someone who denies the existence of God. I don't think it makes any sense to deny the mechanism of evolution, however. Whether run by God or random chance, that is the mechanism.
I am fascinated by this subject and the others that surround it. I have one brother and he was adopted and yet has manifested many similar behaviours and traits of my parents. He had a daughter that we adopted when she was 3 years old. She had been in foster care since she was 18 months old. It has been both fascinating and disconcerting to observe her behaviours and traits as she grows. She is now 10 years old and has never spent any time around my brother except at brief family functions and yet, she shares so many of his characteristics. My brain is constatly humming with the nuture versus nature theories and really enjoyed reading this article with its reference to my current situation. It adds a whole new layer to the puzzle!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs anyone working on this parental imprinting with regards to Alzheimer's? I'm curious, because if what I read here is true, my mother's genes are responisible for a disproportionately large share of my cognitive skills and 3 of her 4 sisters from the same mother all suffered from the disease -maybe I want to switch which parents genes get expressed from now on! -----I know, it's never that simple.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the wonderful complexity we see in nature is because there was no design.
Science and religion are not polar opposites but twin pillars in the building of the creation. Scientists unravel a portion of the mystery in the creation and viola they are above the creator, know it alls. Religionists get caught up in their dogma and shut themeselves off from ongoing revelation of the mystery.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisQuantum physics is beginning to blur the lines. Within the particles of the atom there are no particles but wave lengths, frequencies, vibrations which oscillate between a physical and non-physical matrix. Spirit to matter, matter to spirit. A sine wave of rejuvination. The matter universe can be compared to the spawn of fish in the ocean. All of the stars and planets and their inhabitants are the spawn. The ocean is the spirit planes of God's consciousness. The fish that laid the spawn are spiritual co-workers: Cosmic Beings, Elohim, Archangels, Angels, and bridging spirit and matter are elemental beings of fire, air, water, and earth: the salamanders, sylphs, undines and gnomes who help in forming and maintaining their individual domains.
We are created in the image and likeness of our God. Our God is a consuming fire. All of creation is composed of God's Light, Energy, and Consciousness, and has Innate Intelligence. Even the smallest microbe can figure out how to find food, eat, excrete and multiply. The fiat of God "Let There Be Light" contained all of the divine plan.
The problem and confusion is this. Lucifer and one third of the angels of heaven were cast into these lower dimensions which were designed for the developement of souls into their Christ potential so that they could return again (ascend) to spirit with full power and dominion. Lucifer refused to be subserviant to these Sons and Daughters, the Christs of God. He created a counterfit souless creation that never knew the spirit worlds but only the earth earthy. Of course they deny God because they are not of God. They have computer like minds and magnetic personalities but they do not have total free will. They are controlled and manipulated by the fallen angels. The Old Testament wars were an attempt to remove them from earth since they were in separate tribes at that time. Against the admonition of God, the children of God intermarried with them and mixed their genetic makeup with them. We are in a process of sorting out the real from the unreal, that is the warring in our members. By free will we have to choose to be or not to be the Christ we were intended to be. The fallen angels deny that we can become that Christ.
Earth (and other planets of the cosmos) are schoolrooms for souls to develope their spiritual faculties, skills and talents. We have total dominion in these matter planes which consist of interpenetrating spheres of energy (bodies terrestrial and bodies celestial) wheels within wheels as Ezekiel saw them. The four lower of bodies of earth and of man are these: Fire body (etheric or memory body); Air body (mind, the brain is like a computer that the mind utilizes); Water body (emotional or desire body); and Earth body (the physical body which allows us locomotion, etc.).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe are here to learn to correctly use God's energy as we practice creation. We sometimes make mistakes and misuse God's energy. The Law of the Return of Energy is also known as the law of karma. We reap what we sow in order to learn the effects of our sowing. It is not punishment but a training mechanism for souls who will one day have all of the power of God in the universe at their command. Some (especially the fallen angels) have taken to calling the misqualified energy or negative karma by the name of sin and declare that we are sinners. Condemnation is a tool of the fallen angels. They discourage God's children who have forgotten who they are or where they came from or where they are going. Negatively qualified energy creates an energy veil (evil) which cuts us off from God. To get us back on track, from time to time God sends advanced souls into the earth to give us a teaching to guide us, some to this or that group of souls (the major world religions).
The corrolary to the law of karma is the law of reincarnation. It takes many cycles for the effects of karma to become manifest. We experience lifetimes of great achievement in reward for our good karma. We experience lives of debility and calamity as a result of negative karma. Sometimes there is a mix. Some times we take on burdens that are not ours in order to help others. We are balancing our karma. No man should judge another because we all have "stuff" to work out.
Before coming into embodiment, we souls choose parents that have the genetic makeup that we need and it is we who help bring them together. Sometimes our birth parent is not the parent we need to be raised with, so we arrange an adoption scenario. This is done in consultation with Ascended Beings. We have the power and ability to change our genetic makeup as we balance karma during our life. We create and re-create ourselves. Heaven cannot interfere with us unless we demand and command them to help us.
It's hard to see the evolutionary advantage to males if all of them developed imprinting that creates demanding children - all the mother's children, regardless of father, would be demanding.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisall of this metaphysical nonsence is unprovable in either way and should be presented to some magizine called conjecture american or something, anyway for more interesting reading about imprinting see the writings r.a. wilson and t. leary . Debates which cant be won by either side are a wast of energy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat about your mother? Its nice that you could experience her suffering as learning but she might have preferred to just go on living the life she had before 'the designer' rained Alzheimer's down on her.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe information in paragraph 6 made me wonder about what is expressed in the brains of cloned animals and in the rare instances of "immaculate conception."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI quote: apache at 01:51 PM on 08/06/09
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisall of this metaphysical nonsence is unprovable in either way and should be presented to some magizine called conjecture american or something, anyway for more interesting reading about imprinting see the writings r.a. wilson and t. leary . Debates which cant be won by either side are a wast of energy.
To the contrary, it is provable and repeatable which is the basis of the scientific method. I have provided more information in reply to the Sci Am article on "Spooky Medicine". There are two creations in the earth. God created the souls of his "Christs", his Sons and Daughters in Spirit. They are intended to continue their development in the earth, gaining self mastery in co-creating with God and developing spiritual powers as they "put on" the fullness of their Christhood, putting on that Mind which was also in Christ Jesus by accessing the Unfed Flame within our Heart of hearts, the portal to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus led the way, his disciples and later St Paul, St Hilarion, St Francis of Asissi, St Clare, St Therese of Avila, and more recently Padre Pio demonstrated some of the same "powers". Saints of the East, both Hindu and Buddhist have also demonstrated these powers or "sidhis".
The other creation, hewn man or human, was created by Lucifer and his fallen angels. They refused to be subservient to God's Christs according to God's plan. When first cast out they continued to have some of the powers of creation they had while in heaven. "They", these fallen angels, created an anti-Christ race of beings in opposition to God's Christs. Jesus called them the "tares" among the "wheat" (Christs). They do not have a soul or heart flame. They do not have a conscience and feel no remorse. They are subservient to the fallen angels like ants from an ant hill. They are not of God, have never known spirit, deny God and sprituality, and seek power and control over the Christs of God. In the Old Testament they were in separate tribes, the wars were an attempt to remove them from the earth. God admonished his sons and daughters to not intermarry with them but they disobeyed thereby mixing their genes with the "false heirarchy creation".
We have to now "choose" which characteristics we want to remain as part of our "identity". "To be or not to be, that is the question" we must all decide. By calling on the Law of Forgiveness and invoking God's Universal Solvent, the Violet Flame: "I am a being of Violet Fire, I am the purity God desires", we sort the real from the unreal
I'm so tired of having the "god" non-sense forced down our throats. Please go peddle your non-science based "beliefs" in your religious literature Mr. or Ms. "God Violet Flame." Leave the scientific literature to those of us who appreciate it and follow developments in science, your stuff isn't relevant to this and doesn't belong here.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi qutoe bstradley at 06:56 PM on 08/14/09
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm so tired of having the "god" non-sense forced down our throats. Please go peddle your non-science based "beliefs" in your religious literature Mr. or Ms. "God Violet Flame." Leave the scientific literature to those of us who appreciate it and follow developments in science, your stuff isn't relevant to this and doesn't belong here.
This is a forum for the presentation of ideas. For too long we have heard a one sided presentation "forced down our throats" by pseudo-scientists who deny the Original Scientist and His founding intent, the science behind the science. Genes are not set in concrete but are the most easily changed aspects of our being. We created who we are by our use and misuse of God's energy. You may not like to be told the truth, maybe you prefer the lie. That speaks volumes about your frame of reference. Everything in creation was created by God's Light, Energy and Consciousness and has Innate Intelligence. Even Lucifer and his Illumious Illuminati have to work with what they were given to work with. They can remold the building blocks like tinkertoys to make their robot creation but they cannot endow it with a living soul nor can they infuse it with the Unfed Flame of God that burns within the hearts of God's Christs, his sons and daughters.
God gave his sons and daughters the power to co-create with him. There is nothing more scientific than that. The same inputs will always get the same outputs no matter who you are. God is no respecter of persons, there are no favorite sons. Earth is a school room, a laboratory, we are all priest-scientists practicing the science of co-creation. The soul is the non-permanent atom of God that must learn right-choice in the use of God's Light and Energy. The soul can be lost. Our past choices are reflected in the genes and in the circumstance of our lives. If we want better genes and better lives we can't keep doing the same things and expect different results, that is the definition of insanity. We can uncreate our miscreations and form anew until we learn to match the Original Blueprint and Plan of our lifestreams. Free will is supreme. You can choose to believe the lie or you can accept the truth, that is your decision, but I have the right to present the point of view of the Spirit for those who are of the Spirit because they will never hear it from those who are not of the Spirit. And, unfortunately, those who are not of the Spirit have dominated the discussion for far too long.
I'm sure you're basing your conclusion on logic and scientific evidence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm sure you're basing your conclusion on logic and scientific evidence. NOT!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCarlton22, while I don't agree that what you're saying is exactly factual, I do believe you have meditated and thought deeply about the topic. I'd love to hear more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisfouriea,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow long does a interesting person stay alive in a war? in a life and dead situation?
Wake UP!!! and Get Real!!!
DingBats die!
Carlton22,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDon't let these people get you upset. They don't deal with reality...nothing anyone says will change them. It's like some forms of mental illness.
Why respond to off subject remarks?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe same things happen.
(With or without God)
Why debate something when there is NO CHANGE!
There's nothing to debate.
So the Great Designer gave your Mom Altheimer so that your Dad could express his compassion and you could watch the "beauty" of it all. What if your parents had died of Ebola, or Cholera, or had been imprisoned and tortured, or horribly mangled in a car crash? Would that have been "beautiful"? If you believe that their remains are reassembled on planet heaven and that you will see them again, enjoy your wishful thinking. I won't ask you to face the problem of reality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI couldn't agree more.
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