Argumentative Essay On Epigenetics

Epigenetics is a new phenomenon that has stunned the world of life sciences, proving to have enormous potential in many aspects of biological and medical research. Many academics, scientists and doctors, have concluded that epigenetics could be the answer: The answer to curing a plethora of modern neurodegenerative diseases. Epigenetic changes are reversible and heritable modifications in phenotype without alteration of the primary nucleotide sequence. Evidences have suggested that epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, histone modification and ncRNA DNA may regulate the expression of PD-related genes and provoke PD. It has been shown that methylation of the α-Syn, may be involved in PD through abnormal expression and accumulation of the protein

As with most modern scientific discoveries, epigenetics has been talked about in the past with no great interest or regard. Conrad Waddington used the term ‘epigenome’ in 1943 to define the
The disease is more commonly found in people over 50 year old but it can also happen in younger patients. The typical symptoms are movement-related including shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with walking and gait accompanied by thinking, sensory, sleep and emotional problems. Its pathogenesis is characterized by the loss of dopamine signaling due to the progressive degeneration or death of dopamine-generating neuron cells in the region of midbrain and accumulation of a protein termed as Lewy bodies in neurons. The main affected brain areas in PD include basal ganglia and cerebral cortex. In addition to the aging, exposure to environmental factors such as pesticides has been identified to be a risk factor of