Gene tests: Your DNA blueprint may disappoint

Gene tests: Your DNA blueprint may disappoint

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A readout of all of your DNA? You’ll get it soon. Many wealthy people have theirs already...

So what will this “genetic blueprint” tell us of our future health? Not much, according to an important study out Monday from a group of scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. ...

...But isn’t our genetic blueprint our destiny? Many scientists thoroughly believed that not long ago. As they have learned more about genes, however, that prediction appears ever more simplistic. ...

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Ever since Galton coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" and the word "eugenics" (meaning "well-born"), there's been a huge campaign to convince people that "genetics is destiny," bloodline is everything and some of us are just ...better. According to the eugenics hypothesis, our genes supposedly determine our innate superiority or inferiority.

The myth was finally put to bed when the human genome was cracked at the beginning of this century, but the information was suppressed. For some reason, TPTB wanted us all to continue believing that everything is "genetic" - our intelligence or lack thereof, our health and susceptibility to disease, and our psychological tendencies.

Fact is, it's just not true. Very little is "genetic."

Most diseases arise from a complex mixture of the genes we inherit from our parents at birth— not only what is measured in the whole gene test, but also our lifestyle and environment, and random events such as gene mutations occurring in individual cells in our body later in life.

...That set of complexities mirrors the situation for the thousands of other genes we carry that have some association with a disease. If everyone has a complete gene profile, a small number can learn they have a great risk for something. But for most, the information is minimally significant.

Not long ago many investors saw whole gene sequencing as a future gold mine. But these latest results show that the tests are unlikely to make many people wealthy -- or healthy.

In fact, who we are and who we become results more from "epigenetics" than our DNA profile. At the end of the day, it's our exposures that count the most in determining what happens to our minds and bodies, and who we become.

Three Definitions of Epigenetics

1. Transmission of information through meiosis or mitosis that is not based on DNA sequence

2. A mechanism for stable maintenance of gene expression states that involves physically “marking” the DNA or its associated proteins

3. Mitotically or meiotically heritable changes in gene expression that are not coded in the DNA itself

The toxins we breathe, ingest and absorb from our air, food, water and "medicines" literally modify our gene functions and products.

“We have genomics, proteomics, metabolomics,” said Karger, who also directs the Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis. Genomics is the study of all of a cell’s genes; proteomics and metabolomics examine a cell’s proteins and metabolites, respectively.

...gene expression is only one part of the story: “The protein is where the actual function is,” he explained. “You express a gene that then produces a protein, but the protein does the work.”

...Within cells, there are three systems that can interact with each other to silence genes: DNA methylation, histone modifications, and RNA-associated silencing…

Other mechanisms of epigenetic tagging. We have so far focused on epigenetic mechanisms that are DNA- centric, which result in the modification of either the DNA itself or chromatin structure. According to the broadest definition of epigenetics, which includes any non-DNA-sequence-based system for the perpetuation of information, any protein-based system for the storage of cellular memory is also epigenetic. Prions represent such a viable, protein-based system for epigenetic memory. Once a protein has been converted into its prion form, that protein promotes the transition of other cognate proteins into the prion form.

Epigenetic changes can be passed on - they are inheritable, without changing the genetic code (DNA) but they are reversible.

So what is epigenetics?

An epigenetic system should be heritable, self-perpetuating, and reversible (Bonasio et al., p. 612). ….Looking beyond DNA-associated molecules, prions (infectious proteins) are clearly epigenetic, perpetuating themselves through altered folding states. These states can act as sensors of environmental stress and, through the phenotypic changes they promote, potentially drive evolution (Halfmann and Lindquist, p. 629).

Off the top of my head, I can think of two major campaigns to fight the 1% and prove the importance of environment and the health effects of industrial pollution - LaMarck's efforts back in the Industrial Revolution and another in the 1970's, marked by Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. ...Both were minimized, suppressed, ridiculed and silenced.

Corporate industry has led the crusade blocking peoples' understanding of how environment influences health - and destroys it. The standard corporate legal defence is now public health policy: "An individual's health and health problems result from genetics, diet and lifestyle choices" not pollution, toxin exposures, poisoned food or anything else. It's all on you: no environmental impacts acknowledged.

So why perpetuate the "It's genetic" myth? When so much evidence proves otherwise?

Besides the obvious intent to protect polluting industries and unsafe products, and deny culpability and avoid liability, there also appears to be a nasty insidious underlying goal:

The Depopulation Strategy

.

The campaign to market and rationalize a depopulation strategy is heating up - evidenced by the focus on the "7 billion," costs of healthcare, aging population, and downright criminal claims that everything from flu susceptibility to sociopathy is "genetic."

So where is this going? Looks like a priority list to me. Got asthma? IBS? Depression? Never mind cancer, heart disease or diabetes. You're not on the list. The story is that the putative they want to protect the "human gene pool" - and anyone with any health problems is not wanted on the ark.










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reply to post by soficrow


I'd love to have a copy of my DNA map. I'd set it on the shelf right next to my 10 year extended Horoscope.....

My only concern with where this could go in the future....who gets to decide if you have good enough results to live.

Des

My Genes have pretty much deteriorated from years of use. I have bib overalls now.

reply to post by soficrow


Okay had to star and flag this one.

My mother was adopted back in 1910.

There is no way I can find out who my maternal grandmother and grandfather are.

Rumors from my now deceased half sister say she was of Greek and French ancestry.

I know more about my father's people, have traced them back to the early 1700's (Scotch, Irish, Welsh and English).

Take after my father mostly, as does my oldest son - he has my father's eyes, exactly.

Interesting thread.

Disappointed, hardly..............I come from peasant, hard working, rebellious, averagely bright, not brilliant stock.

Farmers - lovers of the Earth and her inhabitants.

Call it genetic memory, like salmon - while I have never met those that seeded my DNA, I still know things about them, I don't know how I know but I know.

For around $300.00 you can get a complete DNA profile done now that tells you which tribe, which part of the planet your ancestors came from.

My husband wants to let me have this done because I never knew my mother's people. Never met my father's people.

Disappointed?

No, I know within my heart, no matter who they were or where they hailed from - they were not kings, queens or lords and ladies. Simple peasant farmers, lovers of the land, freedom and Mother Earth, kind, honest and good people.

I also know they never completely gave up their spirituality to embrace the tyranny of "religion".

From the moment of my earliest memory, I knew them, I remember a bunch of people all dressed in strange clothing around my crib - welcoming me and blessing me and then disappeared but always watching over me.

When I take my last breath of this existence, they will again reappear to greet me, to take me home, my real home.

One of the most beautifully rendering of The Mists Covered Mountains of Home by a woman named Peggy.

Really a beautiful singer.

reply to post by Destinyone

who gets to decide if you have good enough results to live.

Good question.

Excellent thread! Also, environment, stimulation, opportunities, health, all are enormous factors. Joy, peace, non stressful environments, the opposite of the grind and the struggle lead to optimum development and health.

Plants especially grains and potatoes have complex defense mechanisms (their version of teeth and claws) that are like barbs in our system and turn on and off gene sequences, and cooking them in certain ways or fermenting them even, is a really beneficial thing to do, potatoes and wheat are an example.

They use nano technology with our foods to do exactly the same thing overall, turn on and off gene sequences, mutating people and creating disease potentials, or actual diseases and also probably goal is to create less compassion and lower IQs. I would guess that is what they're up to.

Russian research was that even words could alter DNA in real time, so our outlook, our postiivity, could improve our genetics, and unlock our potential, all of those psi toggle spots in our genes our bodies according to Ingo Swann and his many essays!!!!

reply to post by soficrow


Excellent post! Yes, Galton and eugenics should be put to rest. Sadly, however, elite scientists are trying to revive it. They are trying to jettison Gould and to go with Social Darwinism once again.

Some have called for a memorial to the victims of eugenics. I think it is a good idea in that it will set a cultural tone as to what we will accept and what we will not accept!

Originally posted by soficrow

Gene tests: Your DNA blueprint may disappoint

vitals.msnbc.msn.com

A readout of all of your DNA? You’ll get it soon. Many wealthy people have theirs already...

So what will this “genetic blueprint” tell us of our future health? Not much, according to an important study out Monday from a group of scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. ...

...But isn’t our genetic blueprint our destiny? Many scientists thoroughly believed that not long ago. As they have learned more about genes, however, that prediction appears ever more simplistic. ...

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
vitals.msnbc.msn.com[/ur l]
[url=http://www.tgdaily.com/health-features/62491-gene-mapping-often-fails-to-predict-disease]www.tgdaily.com
www.bellinghamherald.com
health.usnews.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Study links heavy diesel exhaust to lung cancer
Leaked Video From DOD Proving Epigenetic Engineering Via Vaccinations
Are Genes Our Destiny? Scientists Discover 'Hidden' Code in DNA Evolves More Rapidly Than Genetic
Obesity Pandemic - Infectious, or Personal Responsibility?

DNA tells you clues and some origin's, but until these 'high-priests' of science can get soul origin's tracked I'm not that impressed.

reply to post by soficrow


Good post op. Genes are not the end story, it is the upbringing that shapes the individual predominantly

reply to post by Angelic Resurrection

...it is the upbringing that shapes the individual predominantly

Upbringing certainly plays a role in shaping people, but according to the science outlined in the OP, epigenetics as influenced by environmental toxins, contaminants and other things essentially determine how our genes work and what they do. Moreover, epigenetic effects can be inherited - so if your grandmother starved during the Ukraine famine, your may just inherited the detrimental physical effects. The good news is, those changes are NOT permanent - and can be reversed.

Anybody Assassin's Creed fans???

Eat this stuff up.

reply to post by soficrow


Sorry sofi, but I gotta chime in as always.

You can think of the genes as the hardware, epigenetics as the drivers which specify how the hardware is run, and the environment as the operating system used to updates the drivers as is best.

We may be periodically upgrading the operating system, and installing new drivers, but the hardware is set in stone unless components are swapped (genetic mutations).

A pentium will be outclassed by a core2 chip. Same goes for an individual born with mental retardation, will simply not go as far as someone who tests intellectually in the top 1%. Maybe you can find me an exception like Kim Peek, but c'mon now....the role of genetics is being downplayed by you about as much as it may be overly-emphasized by the piss poor educational system.

reply to post by unityemissions


Not sure what you're really trying to say - but I know for a fact you're wrong. Kidding. But if you're questioning the science and sticking to genetic dogma, you definitely need to update.

...Like many here, I do know the difference between hardware and software - but start talking drivers and operating systems and you lose me. If you modify your terms and references (choose a different analogy), maybe we can discuss this more intelligently, 'kay?

Thanks,
sofi

EDIT TO ADD

A pentium will be outclassed by a core2 chip. Same goes for an individual born with mental retardation, will simply not go as far as someone who tests intellectually in the top 1%.

What does this have to do with genetics? ...Or are you suggesting that contrary to the scientific evidence, all retardation is "genetic"? When in fact there is a vast array of environmental exposures that can cause retardation? Are you really saying that a gestating mother's exposures have no impact on the fetus? Or that retardation can only result from actual, permanent DNA mutations, not reversible epigenetic changes?

reply to post by Angelic Resurrection


Eeuwww! I totally butchered that sentence! It should read, "If your grandmother starved during the Ukraine famine, your children may just inherit the detrimental physical effects. The good news is, those changes are NOT permanent - and can be reversed."

reply to post by EarthEvolves

Galton and eugenics should be put to rest. Sadly, however, elite scientists are trying to revive it. They are trying to jettison Gould and to go with Social Darwinism once again.

Much of the "revival" is just about cold hard cash: the Old Boys country club network put BIG bucks into genetics investments - but the whole thing tanked. Partly, they just want to keep the myth alive long enough to pass the losing stocks over to a different set of fools.

Not long ago many investors saw whole gene sequencing as a future gold mine. But these latest results show that the tests are unlikely to make many people wealthy -- or healthy.

At the same time, there's obviously a major depopulation effort in the works. Equally apparent, eugenics dogma will be used to justify the coming inhumanities - inaccurate, erroneous and debunked though it is.

Some have called for a memorial to the victims of eugenics. I think it is a good idea in that it will set a cultural tone as to what we will accept and what we will not accept!

Good idea yes. Those who forget the past are doomed...

To me it doesn't matter where I came from, or where I'm going. The only thing of consequence is the here and now where my choices have an impact on myself and those around me.

If everyone had that mentality, I'm sure the world we know today would be vastly different.

Originally posted by soficrow
reply to post by unityemissions

 

Not sure what you're really trying to say - but I know for a fact you're wrong.

Kidding. But if you're questioning the science and sticking to genetic dogma, you definitely need to update.

No dogma here. You just don't seem to be comprehending how large of a role genetics play. It's in most of what you write, and link, but then you make illogical conclusions based on preconceived notions.

What does this have to do with genetics? ...Or are you suggesting that contrary to the scientific evidence, all retardation is "genetic"? When in fact there is a vast array of environmental exposures that can cause retardation? Are you really saying that a gestating mother's exposures have no impact on the fetus? Or that retardation can only result from actual, permanent DNA mutations, not reversible epigenetic changes?

Nope. Not suggesting that. It was just an example. Look, there are many studies done on twins separated at birth which prove genetics play a large role. You're making an illogical statement that just because we currently can't see the value of the genome, it must have little value. That just doesn't make any sense. Think about how we currently study science. We isolate an individual factor and focus on it, but the body is integrative. It's the combination of genes, interacting with the environment which makes us who we are. So you can say that by studying individual genetic markers, we can tell very little, but eventually we'll have enough computing power to take a more integrative approach, and see the genes as they are. They are a decent chunk of the equation in who we are as individuals, but certainly not the whole shebang. I've never been on board with the whole, "it's just genetics" crowd. Even before I ever heard of epigenetics I intuited there was a bit more, but you seem to focus too in depth on the environment, and this biases you to realizing that...yes, genes do matter, and grades of individuals can be reasonably be assessed.

An example:

Physically, 1,000 untrained men could put in 8 hours of maximum effort each week towards body building, or power-lifting, or running, or whatever. They could be given the same diet, and allowed the same amount of rest, yet some would perform better than others. Even more, some would become overtrained and some would get seriously injured. There could even be one or more who must stop training altogether because of a serious health condition which either showed up, else was lying dormant and was discovered.

Once the year was complete, a competition could be done. There would be some who objectively performed significantly better than others. Are you going to try and come up with various rationalizations as to why this may have happened, other than sticking to the obvious that they had different genetic makeups that set them up to be better than others?

I'm doing something called, "crossfit". There are elite athletes in there (top 1%), and you simply can't reach that level without being a genetic freak. The top performer, Rich Froning JR, blows EVERYONE away by a wide margin. The guy eats PB&J throughout the day, and everyone I've seen talk about him mentions how extraordinary he is. The guy he trains with most often, said he has no clue how Rich can maintain his weight while doing so much work and eating so little. He's a genetic freak among genetic freaks, a grade above the rest, and has a will of solid gold. That's why he's the best.

I'm not going to waste the money to get that DNA blueprint done. The results will just come back with some strange little mouse as my ancestor.

reply to post by ofhumandescent



I don't mean to contradict you but a "full DNA profile" costs more like $10K to 30K. What you get for $300 is a scan for certain SNP (Single nucleotide polymorphisms) that distinguish what "genetic tribe" you are part of. This is on mitocondrial DNA (which (a) comes from your mother and only your mother) and (b) does not code for anything in "racial") and if male your Y-chromosome. That is it.

The cost of a "full DNA profile" is coming down and when $1000 will be more likely of use (ie insurance might pay). But even then its a pretty low res scan of DNA, We have several 1000 (ok perhaps 2000) people scanned this way.

Iknow this how? I worked in Bioinformatics (study of genomic, proteomic metabolomic etc) data for a while.


Edit: Oh and your "tribe"? will not definitively tell you where your ancestors came from, as these tribes are well spread and mixed. Find "The 7 daughters of ever" its a great book on the subject.