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The title of the Discover Magazine article is link bait bullshit. It suggests that what you eat affects your genes. What the authors of the Science paper really
by kia 15y ago
The title of the Discover Magazine article is link bait bullshit. It suggests that what you eat affects your genes. What the authors of the Science paper really found is that plant microRNAs can survive digestion in mammals. These plant microRNAs where subsequently found in mammalian cells affecting expression of genes and cell chemistry.
- andrewljohnson 15y agoI don't understand how what you said is different than the title. Could you please explain the difference between "affects your genes" and "affecting expression of genes."
- dramaticus3 15y agoTo me, the title sounds like your genes are changed (pre-transcription), whereas the study finds ways the body operates on itself (post-transcription). Quite a difference. That said, it is already known that parental malnutrition can be detected in offspring that were never themselves malnurished.
- andrewljohnson 15y agoSo, does that mean that that the post-transcriptive changes will not affect descendants? If so, I agree that my impression of the title is at odds with the information trying to be conveyed. EDIT: I think you edited your comment to basically say that maybe these changes can be passed on?
- pygy_ 15y agoNope. The malnutrition causes gene methilation, which can be passed to children.
- dramaticus3 15y agoI edited my comment to add the malnurishment part but that's not the same as the premise of the article.
- kia 15y agoA process of genes expression is when information from your genes translates to the proteins which are primary regulatory entities in cells. "Affects your genes" implies that somehow your genes are changed permanently. MicroRNAs affect the process of gene expression not the genes itself. What the authors found is that microRNAs from rice can appear in cells of mammals if they eat a lot of rice. But if they stop eating rice the effect of these microRNAs will be lost.
- jforman 15y agoIf a miRNA alters the expression of transcription factors, chromatin remodeling agents, or other epigenome modifiers, the effect could last long after a person stops eating the miRNA-containing food.
- papa_bear 15y agoCan the microRNAs really enter into mammalian cells? I feel like there should be some mechanism for blocking outside RNAs from entering a cell. Unless there's no selection for a defense mechanism because it's not harmful? Someone fill me in here.
- carbocation 15y agoBiology is weird. Frankly, if this pans out, I wouldn't be surprised if there were an active uptake mechanism.
- jobu 15y agoThat was my question as well. Skimming the paper on nature.com (http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/cr2011158a.html http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/cr201115...) turns up this : "We next characterized the possible carrier of circulating miRNAs. Microvesicles (MVs) are small vesicles that are shed from almost all cell types under both normal and pathological conditions 13, 14. They bear surface receptors/ligands of the original cells and have the potential to selectively interact with specific target cells and mediate intercellular communication by transporting bioactive lipids, mRNA, or proteins between cells... " It looks like the miRNAs are trapped in tiny bits of the rice cells. These bits have receptors that can interact with mammal cells and transport RNA across the cell barrier. (This really sounds like a protovirus!) If this can happen from eating a plant, I wonder what miRNA is circulating after eating a nice rare steak.
- lionhearted 15y agoAgreed. "What You Eat Affects Your Genes" and "What You Eat Affects Your Gene Expression" are subtle, but quite a big difference. The latter we already broadly know, the former would be a revolutionary discovery if true.