Gene expression

So I've known Bruce for a long time, and his work is groundbreaking.

In the 1970s and '80s, he was doing work, part of it at Stanford University School of Medicine as a tenured professor there, where he showed that forces, influences from outside the genome, outside the DNA molecule, could be literally shaping gene expression.

These breakthrough experiments were completely at odds with the current theory of genetic determinism.

It's all in your genes [laughing].

of each individual part so that ultimately there's beautiful music.

And I would say to our viewers, if you want to learn more about this specific topic, a podcast I recently did with a Dr. Sarah Marzi from the Marzi Neuroscience Institute in England, talking about lifestyle and regulating epigenetic gene control over our gene expression and how that relates specifically to neurodegenerative diseases.

Austin, you were talking about The idea that we shouldn't really focus on the antioxidant activity of polyphenols, that there's a lot

more going on.

Thanks so much for having me.

Well, we learned a lot today about polyphenols, and there's a lot of changes that can happen to our diets to increase the levels of these really important molecules in our diets to really bring about improvement in our health through the mechanisms, not just of reducing inflammation and enhancing our antioxidant functionality.

But as we learned today from Dr. Austin Perlmutter, to actually change our gene expression through what's called epigenetic modulation, changing how our genes express something that's relatively new.

But, you know, it's been going on an awful long time, as long as humans have been eating these polyphenols.

It's, uh, so almost, uh, forty years ago, and, uh, I was amazed how many functions this organ controls, uh, how it works as an interface between central nervous system, hormonal/endocrine system, immune system, and, uh, how complex the upstream regulations are in our body.

And then I was studying immunology and seeing how many functions immune system has and, uh, how many divisions immune system health has and how much, uh, genetic ex- gene expression matters for immunology and for conditions, uh, that are related to, uh, different, uh, uh, changes in immune system.

And, and same, uh, and the same for nephrology, for oncology, for endocrinology.

So you see all those complex interactions.

Some of them able to get into the grooves on a DNA molecule and to reduce transcription of certain genes.

And, uh, of course, uh, all, some of them able to get into certain, uh, areas to DNA and affect methylation of DNA.

And of course, anyone, uh, familiar with biology would agree that it's a proven epigenetic effect, but on a level of, uh, not talking about deep science, uh, we see changes in, uh, gene expression.

In a special lab testing, we see changes in certain markers.

Your genetic code stays the same.

But what Accutane changes is called gene expression.

That means when genes are turned up...

When genes are turned down, it's actually changing what your cells are being told to do.

For example, some researchers focus on how bacterial genes are expressed.

Gene expression describes the way that cells can turn their genes off and on depending on their needs, producing different proteins as a result.

This helps prokaryotes and eukaryotes alike adjust to the conditions around them.

Like if the water that bacteria live in suddenly gets too hot or too salty, they can make different proteins to help them adapt.

As it turns out, gene expression in bacterial cells doesn't look that different than in our own.

A protein called an activator can bind to DNA to get transcription to start, like a little green Go flag.

When that happens, a section of DNA is copied into an mRNA molecule, which is then carried off and used as instructions to build a protein.

On the flip side, proteins called repressors can stop transcription from happening, raising a stop sign to halt protein-making in its tracks.

La parte fascinante es la rapidez con la que esto puede cambiar.

Una sola interacción social positiva puede comenzar a modificar los patrones de expresión génica.

Con el tiempo, mantener relaciones positivas de manera constante can shape your epigenome in healthier directions.

Literally, you are becoming healthier on a cellular level when you have good relationships.

We're constantly improving that timeframe.

Obviously... you think of gene expression, it's a snapshot in time.

So as soon as you've taken the blood, that's the state of the cow at that point in time.

Now, a lot of expression is very stable.

Whereas you might think, why? Well, here's some information.

Now, Again, it doesn't say that they're getting too much or too little of vitamin K, but it's showing those differences in those pathways, those genes.

So they might have something absolutely critical going on with their gene expression that's involved in vitamin K metabolism, whatever.

We often see vitamin D in the Finnish farms, like I said.