Mismatch: Why Our World No Longer Fits our Bodies

Mismatch: Why our world no longer fits our bodies
Peter Gluckman and Mark Hanson. Foreword by Robert Winston
Oxford University Press, 2006

About the Authors:

Gluckman and Hanson are doctors who hold posts in academia.

Amazon link

If you have a copy of The Selfish Gene throw it away. Don't give it to anybody, throw it away because it is a dangerously misleading text. I still recall reading it so long ago and being amused by such a simplistic and naive view of inheritance. Replace it with this text. Seriously, this text is a very good introduction to an emerging view of genetics that is transforming our understanding of evolution. If you are familiar with epigenetics and how it is now a huge focus of research you *may* find this text light and breezy. Nonetheless I can guarantee there are research reports in this book that will astound you. If you are someone who has long held The Selfish Gene in high esteem you definitely need to read this text. That is a serious recommendation. As the authors state:


199
"Our thinking has moved a long way from simplistic views of the interaction between genes(nature) and the developmental environment(nurture).

Hooray, how I have longed to see a popular text that takes the whole neodarwinian paradigm to task and politely pushes it to one side. With regard to Dawkins though I won't be polite, I think Doofus Dawkins is responsible for leading a huge cross section of the educated(?!) public up the garden path to the smelly outside dunny. I cannot recall the number of times people have addressed my criticisms of Dawkin's approach with bewilderment, as if Dawkins was the be all and end all of genetics.(That was NEVER true, Dawkins was popular with the educated (?!) public, not geneticists. In fact if you think I'm severe on Dawkins, trust me, I've seen others almost apoplectic over his claims.) Yes, I have long regarded The Selfish Gene as one big fat load of bollocks. But enough of my general contempt for that text.

Read Wiki for an introduction to epigenetics. 

I did not take any substantial notes on this text because for many years now I have been following the changing of the guard with respect to genetics. It is an exciting time, the emergence of a much more powerful, sophisticated, and complex model of evolution is going to take some decades to mature. To give you an idea of this approach consider the following:

147
Children brought up in poor societies but then adopted to rich one's is associated with much earlier puberty - with some girls having their first period at 6-8 years of age.

The text is replete with like examples, the research literature is now bulging with research into epigenetics and its implications for public health in general and individual health in particular.

My cognitive style is iconoclastic(ah der, no kidding John). I'm always on the look out for new ways to understanding being human and the the processes of Life. So I am delighted that the authors of this text have written a highly accessible text, certainly any educated person will have no trouble understanding this text. I suspect that is probably why I found it somewhat light and breezy because for myself, while I am not aggressively tracking the research in this area, I have long been interested in the newly emerging paradigm.

Mismatch should replace "The Selfish Gene". I certainly hope that turns out to be true. The authors paint a picture of a new kind of genetics that is both complex and beautiful, an amazing testament to the power of evolution to manage adaptation. This is the New Stuff, the future of genetics. If you have any interest in genetics and understanding why type 2 diabetes is turning into one huge public health disaster, you need to read this text. Oh just read it, it is a great and easy read that will open your eyes to the complexities of adaptation that hitherto most of us never dreamed possible.

Great stuff! Thanks to the authors.

Epigenetics and PTSD

This news release from Science Daily highlights yet another epigenetic study that raises difficult questions about our understanding of natural selection. There is a long, fascinating, and in some ways sad history about epigenetics. It all began with the Australian immunologist Ted Steele.

Does the Impact of Psychological Trauma Cross Generations?

It has been assumed that these trans-generational effects reflected the impact of PTSD upon the parent-child relationship rather than a trait passed biologically from parent to child. 

However, Dr. Isabelle Mansuy and colleagues provide new evidence in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry that some aspects of the impact of trauma cross generations and are associated with epigenetic changes, i.e., the regulation of the pattern of gene expression, without changing the DNA sequence

The Australian immunologist Ted Steele, in the 1970's, was the first to strongly argue for a Lamarckian style of inheritance. I read his book long ago, Lamarck's Signature, and put a question mark over it, waiting for studies. Ted Steele was treated like a pariah by the scientific community. Not surprising, science does have its stories of the intellectually adventurous being burnt alive. A friend of mine once noted that Aussies tend towards the iconoclastic type. (Can we find an epigenetic trait for that Frank!?). Ted Steele, and that wonderfully cynical and insightful Aus philosopher, Dave Stove, are excellent examples of that iconoclastic motif. Dave Stove is one of those few precious philosophers who can call out bullshit with remarkable clarity. For example, in regard to the Selfish Gene hypothesis, one of the dumbest ways you can ever perceive genetics, Stove writes: if genes were that selfish incest would be all the rage. So FU Dawkins, I always knew you were wrong and now everyone does. But I digress ...

Epigenetics Nutshell: The concept refers to changes in gene transcription mediated by the the attachment of methyl and\or acetyl groups to the proteins which surrounds genes (chromatin, heterochromatin) and impact on the rate of gene transcription.

Ted Steele's fight cost him his career, he was even subject to disciplinary proceedings which were later thrown out on appeal. In science rocking the boat can have you tossed overboard. He crossed a sacred barrier, the Weismann Barrier. This refers to the long held view that irrespective of what happens to the body(soma), the germ line cells remain unaffected. We can now regard that as unmitigated bollocks.

There are deep and difficult questions surrounding epigenetics. This study highlights one such problem. For it is unimaginable how epigenetic changes could have the precision suggested in this article. The same problem is suggested in relation to epigenetic findings on diabetes, that if your grandparents went through a noticeable famine your diabetes risk was raised. This is quite fascinating, especially when you consider that India is the diabetes capital of the world and aborigines also have extraordinarily high rates of diabetes. How's that for an unintended consequence of being well fed! So even if we looked for gene changes the answer may be masked, what we need to also look for is epigenetic changes. These findings and many like findings have profound implications for our understanding of evolution. It is going to be another revolution and calls into question all those models of gene variation and natural selection dynamics.

BTW, a study released a few months ago suggested that congenital mental retardation can occur not through changes in the genes but in epigenetic changes.

Type 1 Diabetes on the Rise

28/05/2009 5:39PM

Type 1 childhood diabetes is increasing. Type 2 actually has a closer genetic connection than type 1, at least that is what one doctor told me. There was an interesting Italian study sometime ago which found that in obese individuals the risk of type 2 was 49 times higher for those in the highest 10% (I think) then the lowest group for organic pollutant measurements in their body tissues. Another study found increased complications in diabetes individuals if they lived close to a dump.

Type 1 diabetes is perceived as a Th 1 inflammatory mediated autoimmune disease, the beta cells appear particularly sensitive to oxidative attack. However the cytokine profile goes across the board. The Th 1-Th 2 stuff is useful but not the real thing. There might be an epigenetic process going on here because I recall one study which indicated that if the grandmothers had gone through a severe famine this increased the risk of diabetes but only in the grandchildren line(so far measured). I can think of two possible causes, there must be more. The point is this: Across wide populations, if we increase the potential risk factors through environmental changes, we can then create epidemics. It's a neat trick and we're pulling it off.

Strange stuff but just today I read this:

The water flea, daphnea will develop large defensive spines when predators are around. If they then reproduce, their off spring develop these spines even when not exposed to predators.



New Scientist May, 2008l p 31

There is a way to understand this but you have to give up the one gene - one protein idea. It's wrong so you may as well.

Now, speaking of persistent organic pollutants, has anyone bought any bottled water lately?



John.