Interaction between food and genes
If the idea that food can drive biological processes by interacting with the genome sounds surprising, then you need to look for a honeycomb to find a proven perfect example of how this happens. .. Worker bees work non-stop, are sterile, and live for only a few weeks. The queen bee, sitting deep inside the hive, has a longevity of many years and a very strong fertility, giving birth to an entire colony.
Still, worker bees and queen bees are genetically identical organisms. They become two different life forms because of the food they eat. The queen bee treats royal jelly. Worker bees eat nectar and pollen. Both foods provide energy, but royal jelly has additional functions. Its nutrients can unleash the genetic instructions for creating the anatomy and physiology of the queen bee.
So how are foods converted into biological instructions? Remember that foods are made up of micronutrients. These include carbohydrates (or sugars), proteins, and fats. Foods also contain micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. These compounds and their degradation products can trigger gene switches present in the genome.
Like a switch that controls the intensity of light in a house, a genetic switch determines how much a particular gene product is produced. For example, royal jelly contains compounds that activate genetic controllers to form the Queen’s organs and maintain her fertility. In humans and mice, by-products of the amino acid methionine, which is abundant in meat and fish, are known to affect gene dials that are important for cell growth and division. And Vitamin C plays a role in keeping us healthy by protecting the genome from oxidative damage. It also promotes the function of cellular pathways that can repair the genome if it is damaged.
Depending on the type of nutritional information, activated genetic control, and the cells that receive them, messages in food can affect health, risk of illness, and even longevity. However, it is important to note that to date, most of these studies have been performed on animal models such as bees.
Interestingly, the ability of nutrients to alter the flow of genetic information can extend across generations. Studies show that in humans and animals, the diet of grandparents affects the activity of genetic switches and the risk and mortality of grandchildren’s illness.
Cause and effect
One of the interesting aspects of thinking of food as a form of biological information is to give a new meaning to the concept of the food chain. Indeed, if our bodies are affected by what we eat (up to the molecular level), the food we “eat” can also affect our genome. For example, compared to pasture-fed cow milk, grain-fed cow milk differs in the amount and variety of fatty acids and vitamins C and A. Therefore, when humans drink these different types of milk, the cells also receive different nutritional messages.
Similarly, the diet of a human mother changes the levels of fatty acids in breast milk and vitamins such as B-6, B-12 and folic acid. This can change the type of nutritional message that reaches the baby’s own genetic switch, but it is unclear at this time whether this will affect the development of the child.
And, perhaps unknown to us, we are also part of this food chain. The food we eat not only tinkers with intracellular genetic switches, but also with the switches of microorganisms that live in the intestines, skin, and mucous membranes. One striking example: In mice, the breakdown of short-chain fatty acids by gut bacteria alters levels of serotonin, a chemical messenger in the brain that regulates processes such as mood, anxiety, and depression.
Food additives and packaging
Ingredients added to food can also alter the flow of genetic information within cells. Bread and cereals are rich in folic acid, which prevents birth defects caused by this nutrient deficiency. However, some scientists say that in the absence of other naturally occurring micronutrients such as vitamin B-12, high levels of folic acid probably affect the genetic pathways that control growth in Western countries. It is assumed that it may contribute to an increased incidence of colon cancer in.
This may also apply to the chemicals found in food packaging. Bisphenol A (BPA), a compound found in plastics, turns on the genetic dial, which is essential for mammalian development, growth and childbirth. For example, some researchers believe that in both human and animal models, BPA affects the age of sexual differentiation and reduces fertility by increasing the likelihood that genetic switches will be turned on. I am.
In all of these examples, the genetic information of a food is not only its molecular composition (amino acids, vitamins, etc.), but also national agriculture, environment, economic policy, or they.
Scientists have only recently begun to decipher the message of these genetically modified foods and their role in health and illness. Our researchers still know exactly how nutrients act on genetic switches, what are the rules of their communication, and how the diets of past generations affect their offspring. not. Many of these studies have so far been conducted only in animal models, and much remains unclear as to what food-gene interactions mean to humans.
But what is clear is that unraveling the mysteries of nutritional genomics is likely to empower both current and future societies and generations.
Monica Dus is an assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Michigan.
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