Scientists say Phobias can Modify DNA and be Passed on

YIKES. This is kinda scary. Considering how the world is such a mess ... war torn ... PTSD in soldiers ... civilians who have been victimized ... children who have been victimized by pedophiles ... etc etc ... all that can change a persons DNA and be passed down? That's a whole lotta' damaged DNA being passed down. Cascading down.

Scientists Say Phobias Can Modify DNA and Be Passed On

Phobias may not be simply down to unpleasant child experiences, but those of your parents or even grandparents, a new study suggests.

Scientists have discovered that fear can be passed down through the generations by modifying DNA.
Their findings indicate that ancestral experiences occurring long before an individual is born, or even conceived, can influence their behaviour.

They concluded: ‘Our results allow us to appreciate how the experiences of a parent, before even conceiving offspring, markedly influence both structure and function in the nervous system of subsequent generations.

‘Such a phenomenon may contribute to the etiology [cause] and potential intergenerational transmission of risk for neuropsychiatric disorders, such as phobias, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.’

I wonder if the same thing will be found with people who live violent lives ... terrorists or Jihadists or those who just luv war. If that somehow changes their DNA??

I don't know if I believe that the DNA is changed.
I'm wondering if the DNA held a tendency to phobia in it already?

They said that phobias aren't all learned behavior from parents because some of this testing came with adopted children and children via invitro ... children raised by people other than birth parents.

Anyways, there is a lot to think about. This could have major implications for the human race.
WAR could have longer reaching effects then previously thought. It could actually change our DNA.
That's huge. Abuse can have generational lasting effects because it can change DNA. BIG STUFF!

I believe it because it runs in my family.

I always wondered why my mom and her sisters and then me.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


It was believed that phobias were learned behavior.
And I can see the tendency to them can be passed down genetically.
But this report says that if someone has a phobia, that can CHANGE their DNA.
That's different then saying it's passed down.

Someone without the phobia dna could go to war and get PTSD.
That PTSD could change their DNA and cause it to have the phobia tendency.
That then gets passed down genetically.
At least, that is according to the article.

reply to post by FlyersFan



Panic attacks brought on by agoraphobia, didn't start until after my mom died which I consider stress disorder, and yes all of her sisters and her had it.

I always thought it was some sort of genetic thing.

reply to post by FlyersFan

Metaphysicists have been saying this kind of thing for a long time. But it's only in the recent we're actually seeing scientific evidence supporting it. Scary yes, but it would stand to reason, if fear can alter DNA, then so can love.

S&F

reply to post by FlyersFan


THX THX.

I've noted in some recent threads that persistent relentless thoughts and persistent relentless speech of a particular type can alter DNA.

Of course, I was trashed royally by the uninformed.

I haven't gotten around to tracking down my original source. I am beginning to think it was in a book I read. Probably ATTACHMENTS . . . by Clinton and Sibcy.

I'm putting the link to this thread in my BOILERPLATE reference Word file. LOL.

The Manual declares (KJV) AS A MAN THINKS IN HIS HEART, SO IS HE.

It is more true than we ever imagined.

Klassified
reply to post by FlyersFan

 

Metaphysicists have been saying this kind of thing for a long time. But it's only in the recent we're actually seeing scientific evidence supporting it. Scary yes, but it would stand to reason, if fear can alter DNA, then so can love.

S&F

Would you tell me more about the metaphysical side please.

It is interesting but I hate the fear-mongering under the article.

What the scientists call a genetic transmission of fear I would more aptly call the genetic transmission of a survival characteristic.

Of course they trained the mice to fear the cherry scent, and it got transmitted. But it was transmitted because it pointed to a potential danger.

They should try to condition the mice to like something they usually reject, and then get the genes transmitted. That would prove that it is not fear, but survival important information that is transmitted.

Otherwise, all life forms would have succumbed to fear looooooong ago.

Calling it as a sickening mechanism IS dangerous for all, no doubts.

"We arrest you because your grand-pa did something wrong, 75 years ago..."

reply to post by FlyersFan


This kind of reporting REALLY gets my goat. The inheritance has NOTHING to do with DNA - it's epigenetic!!!!! None of the quotes even mention DNA - just epigenetic inheritance, meaning DNA is NOT altered.

‘The fact that these changes persisted after IVF, cross-fostering and across two generations is indicative of biological inheritance,’ wrote Dr Brian Dias and Dr Kerry Ressler from Emory University, in Atlanta.

...Prof Wolf Reik, Head of the Epigenetics and Chromatin Programme, Babraham Institute, said: ‘These types of results are encouraging as they suggest that t ransgenerational inheritance exists and is mediated by epigenetics, but more careful mechanistic study of animal models is needed before extrapolating such findings to humans.’

In biology, and specifically genetics, epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene activity which are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence. Unlike simple genetics based on changes to the DNA sequence (the genotype), the changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype of epigenetics have other causes.

Great find though (now that I've got that off my chest).

So if supposedly phobias can actually change DNA (which I don't understand how it could be), then that would mean other things can change DNA, right? Think it out ... would making stupid life choices change DNA ... allowing yourself to be indoctrinated into cults change DNA .... that kind of thing? Would the people who are defending stoning a person to death as seen on this thread ... people who say they'd have no problem picking up a rock and bashing in another human beings head for 20 minutes until that person is dead .... would those people who think that's a good thing then have their DNA changed and they'd pass that kind of uncivilized stupidity on to their children via DNA???

If DNA supposedly gets changed with Phobias, wouldn't the DNA get changed for other things as well??

Just brainstorming ... thinking it out to logical conclusions ...

reply to post by FlyersFan


The DNA is NOT changed - the inheritance is epigenetic. NONE of the scientists said anything about DNA - just epigenetic inheritance. Which does NOT involve changes to DNA.

The reporter - and headline writer - are downright ignorant.

The scientists said phobias can be inherited - in this case epigenetically NOT genetically.

reply to post by soficrow

Good. The reporters saying dna get changed really threw me for a loop.
Think of the ramifications of what that would mean if true! YIKES!!

Stormdancer777

Klassified
reply to post by FlyersFan

 

Metaphysicists have been saying this kind of thing for a long time. But it's only in the recent we're actually seeing scientific evidence supporting it. Scary yes, but it would stand to reason, if fear can alter DNA, then so can love.

S&F

Would you tell me more about the metaphysical side please.

Metaphysics has long posited there is a relation between the physical, mental, and even spiritual. In this case, that physical attributes can be changed. Though I have no problem that our thoughts and emotions have a definite effect on us, including(possibly) our DNA. I do have issues with the idea of "12 strand DNA awakening", and certain other ideas from the metaphysical folks.

Interestingly enough, many hypnotists also believe physical attributes can be changed by our mind. There has been a modicum of evidence over the years, but nothing concrete from the scientific community in support of the possibility.

Though as soficrow has pointed out, this is epigenetic, and not DNA. It is still confirmation of what metaphysics has said for a very long time.

reply to post by FlyersFan


This is a very important study - but needs to be assessed for what it actually is and what it really says. Experience can and does change cell and tissue structure, and those epigenetic changes can be inherited. Unfortunately, the assumption is that if something is inherited it must be genetic but it is not.

NOTE: Studies in bacteria show epigenetic changes that are beneficial to the organism can change DNA (eg., antibiotic resistance).

Klassified

Stormdancer777

Klassified
reply to post by FlyersFan

 

Metaphysicists have been saying this kind of thing for a long time. But it's only in the recent we're actually seeing scientific evidence supporting it. Scary yes, but it would stand to reason, if fear can alter DNA, then so can love.

S&F

Would you tell me more about the metaphysical side please.

Metaphysics has long posited there is a relation between the physical, mental, and even spiritual. In this case, that physical attributes can be changed. Though I have no problem that our thoughts and emotions have a definite effect on us, including(possibly) our DNA. I do have issues with the idea of "12 strand DNA awakening", and certain other ideas from the metaphysical folks.

Interestingly enough, many hypnotists also believe physical attributes can be changed by our mind. There has been a modicum of evidence over the years, but nothing concrete from the scientific community in support of the possibility.

Though as soficrow has pointed out, this is epigenetic, and not DNA. It is still confirmation of what metaphysics has said for a very long time.

edit on 12/5/2013 by Klassified because: eta

TY, I am not sure I really understand all this, but thansks still.

reply to post by Klassified

...many hypnotists also believe physical attributes can be changed by our mind. There has been a modicum of evidence over the years, but nothing concrete from the scientific community in support of the possibility.

Though as soficrow has pointed out, this is epigenetic, and not DNA. It is still confirmation of what metaphysics has said for a very long time.

The evidence/confirmation IS out there - and piling up - especially in neuroscience. The focus on DNA comes from geneticists/eugenicists who want everyone to believe that inferiority and superiority are genetic and "fixed." In fact, our brains are plastic, and experience can define who we are - "cell memory" and injury and disease is another conversation.

reply to post by soficrow

This kind of reporting REALLY gets my goat. The inheritance has NOTHING to do with DNA - it's epigenetic!!!!! None of the quotes even mention DNA - just epigenetic inheritance, meaning DNA is NOT altered.

Wrong again, Crow.

Bisulfite sequencing of sperm DNA from conditioned F0 males and F1 naive offspring revealed CpG hypomethylation in the Olfr151 gene. Source

That's not a change in gene expression. That's a change in a gene.

To put it in language we all find a bit easier to understand,

They showed a section of DNA responsible for sensitivity to the cherry blossom scent was made more active in the mice's sperm. Source

reply to post by FlyersFan


All kinds of things can alter DNA. That's how mutations occur.

Has the world changed because of this discovery? No, this isn't something that began happening yesterday. If it happens, then it has always happened.

Besides, you're immediately tying it into the worst media-hysteria sensationalism. That's not the point.

The point is a foot in the door for Lamarckism, a long-discredited evolutionary hypothesis.

I think we should wait for this study to be replicated, though, before we get too excited.

reply to post by Astyanax


The study describes genetic expression. The news report you linked specifies that sperm DNA was affected - not altered. The real news here involves the "Weismann Barrier."

Hypomethylation of DNA: a possible epigenetic mechanism involved in tumor promotion.

...these transgenerational effects are inherited via parental gametes. Our findings provide a framework for addressing how environmental information may be inherited transgenerationally at behavioral, neuroanatomical and epigenetic levels.

NOTE: Just because the gene product is altered does NOT mean the gene is changed - that's the magic of epigenetics.

Also NOTE: LaMarck was wrong about some things but he accurately tracked the effects of industrial pollution on workers and their families. Geneticists/eugenicists have spent the past 200-odd years denying those damaging effects are real because no genetic mutations are found to explain them. Epigenetic mechanisms do, and substantiate some of LaMarck's work.

Genetics and molecular biology will not move forward as a science unless and until proponents drop their commitment to eugenics and the attendant notion of immutable genetic superiority and inferiority.

reply to post by soficrow


I linked to the original study. The chemical composition of DNA relating to a specific gene was altered.