However, dysregulation of these processes may lead to pathogenesis and disease, including cancer, Parkinson’s or heart disease. These changes are widespread and fine-tuned during normal development and are, at times, tissue-specific. New epigenetics mechanisms continue to be discovered, but so far, we know that epigenetics has the ability to turn genes and their respective functions on and off in a process more analogous to a dial rather than a switch.Įpigenetics and its regulation of gene expression has been well-established in model organisms and humans. In other words, these are changes that affect our DNA but do not change its actual structure or composition. According to the National Institutes of Health, it is defined as “heritable changes in gene expression that are, unlike mutations, not attributable to alterations in the sequence of DNA.” While numerous definitions abound, epigenetics is essentially what happens above the gene level. Anti-vaxxers, creationists and white supremacists have already added epigenetics to their vernacular and jargon to defend their controversial beliefs. With the field now casting a wider net and getting increasing attention, it is important to understand what epigenetics really means to prevent misinformation or potential abuse. For example, the forced removal and separation of families, including young children from their parents, shapes how love is expressed and affection is displayed in communities, and influences later generations.
The traumas experienced by our ancestors are influencing not only our own behavior but also the behavior of our unborn children and grandchildren.Ī professor of Indigenous studies from the University of Western Australia, Pat Dudgeon, implicated the brutality of colonization on these Native populations. The study blamed intergenerational trauma for having “shaped” at least 13 of the deaths, representing nearly a quarter of all deaths. There were 77 suicides among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations just this year alone, with more than half occurring in victims under the age of 26 and some as young as 12. One important study looked at the possible causes of high child suicide rates among Indigenous Australian populations. Remarkably, this cutting-edge research suggests that the traumas experienced by our ancestors are perhaps inherited, influencing not only our own behavior but also the behavior of our unborn children and grandchildren. Though early studies related to epigenetics were limited to basic cell differentiation or how it develops and matures in yeast and bacteria, the field has since expanded to explain entire communities. Psychologists, activists, political scientists and pundits alike increasingly rely on this field to justify their beliefs and findings.ĭue to the gap in knowledge between public perceptions of intergenerational trauma and the actual science, it is helpful to explain what epigenetics is and what the actual data show.
What can epigenetics tell us about how our descendants will deal with environmental changes based on our own response to climate change? Will Syrian refugees pass down their trauma to their children and grandchildren, and what will that mean for a future that has not yet been born?Įpigenetics: A Growing Field With Profound Health ImplicationsĮpigenetics, a term coined in the 1940s, has resurfaced after decades in the context of describing social phenomenon, tragedies and mental health. The field triggers a host of critical questions, however.
From high suicide rates among Australian Aborigines and the legacy of slavery, to inherited post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk among Holocaust survivors, the implications of new research promise far-reaching consequences for communities around the world grappling with social and political upheaval. It offers answers to just how deeply social turmoil can impact populations and their descendants. Can we inherit the trauma of our ancestors and pass down our own trauma to later generations? Many have claimed this is the case, but for the first time, there seems to be an actual biological link bridging the gap between intergenerational trauma and the hard sciences.Įpigenetics, a groundbreaking and fast evolving field, says we can and in fact do.
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