Qué es la epigenética y cómo afecta a nuestra salud

DRINCOVICH, MARÍA FABIANA

Mesa redonda; Bioquimica en la Ciudad; 2019

Sociedad Española de Biioquímica y Biología Molecular

The genetic information contained in the DNA of our cells serves to build our body and develop the characteristic functions of life. Until now it was believed that all the necessary information was encoded only in the nucleotide sequences that make up our genes: the reading order of the four ATCG bases of the genetic code. But today we know that there is something else. There are chemical modifications that, without altering this DNA sequence, control its activity: they are something like molecular labels that determine when genes are activated or not. Epigenetics is the part of biology that studies those modifications of DNA and the proteins associated with it. External factors such as diet or pollution influence such epigenetic modifications and alterations in them can cause diseases. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms involved in the regulation of these molecular markers. In this debate we will have four Ibero-American scientific experts in thisstudy of epigenetics.