Have you ever wondered how much of a baby’s development in the womb is determined by genes passed on from parents, compared with the mother’s nutrition, mental health and lifestyle?
Well now, an international study published in Genome Research, has used an analysis of genetic DNA marks to measure exactly this.
The combination of our genes and our experiences at the beginning of our lifetimes, inside the womb affect our health throughout our lives.
The link between a baby’s development in the womb and its risk of obesity and heart disease later in life is thought to be linked to epigenetics and DNA methylation markers.
This research provides important evidence showing most of the variations between babies come from the combination of the environment experienced in the womb and the genetic information passed on from their parents.
According to Professor Godfrey, from National University of Singapore, “development in the womb can be likened to an orchestra, in which genes are the instruments and epigenetic changes are the musicians who determine how the baby is formed.”
The Singapore GUSTO Birth Cohort Study, led by researchers at A*STAR’s Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS) in collaboration with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, used samples of umbilical cord DNA which showed that genetic differences alone explained only 25% of the epigenetic variation between babies.
This is the world’s first study using DNA to estimate how big a role the prenatal envi-ronment plays in a child’s development and how much is simply genetically determined.
This is an extremely important study as the findings are likely to revolutionise the un-derstanding of gene-environment interactions in early life and how a mother’s nutrition and lifestyle have long lasting effects on the health of her children.
So watch this space. This is the first of many studies that will ask fundamental questions about the interactions of our genes and the individual circumstances we are born into to ultimately shape our wellbeing.
References
1. University of Southampton (2014) “Development in the womb: New insight on epigenetic influence on baby.” Science Daily News. Viewed online on 12th November 2015 at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140428074640.htm
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Written by: Sandra Di Giacomo |
