Whats gene silencing, whats epigenetic changes? Is there any disease due to gene silencing and epigenetic changes? Can they fix these?
Weaver, I. C. G. et al. Reversal of maternal programming of stress responses in adult offspring through methyl supplementation: altering epigenetic marking later in life. J. Neurosci. 25, 11045–11054 (2005)
This is an interesting article. The abstract states that a particular gene site is either hypo- or hyper-methylated based on early nurturing of these baby rats. However, there was some plasticity later in life of this “epigenetic” phenomenon. By infusing the rats with a factor that either increased or decreased methylation, they changed the rat’s HPA response to stress. So possibly, if our genes have undergone an epigenetic change, there may be some plasticity. Not sure, just hoping.