Epigenetic Consequences of Adversity and Intervention Throughout the Lifespan: Implications for Public Policy and Health
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Epigenetic Consequences of Adversity and Intervention Throughout the Lifespan: Implications for Public Policy and Healthcare Nicholas Collins 1 & Natalia Ledo Husby Phillips 1 & Lauren Reich 1 & Katrina Milbocker 1 & Tania L. Roth 1 Published online: 20 August 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Behavioral epigenetics posits that both nature and nurture must be considered when determining the etiology of behavior or disease. The epigenome displays a remarkable ability to respond to environmental input in early sensitive periods but also throughout the lifespan. These responses are dependent on environmental context and lead to behavioral outcomes. While early adversity has been shown to perpetuate issues of mental health, there are numerous intervention strategies shown efficacious to ameliorate these effects. This includes diet, exercise, childhood intervention programs, pharmacological therapeutics, and talk therapies. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of the ability of the epigenome to adapt in different contexts is essential to advance our understanding of mechanisms of adversity and pathways to resilience. The present review draws on evidence from both humans and animal models to explore the responsivity of the epigenome to adversity and its malleability to intervention. Behavioral epigenetics research is also discussed in the context of public health practice and policy, as it provides a meaningful source of evidence concerning child development and disease intervention and prevention. Keywords Epigenetics . Adversity . Resilience . Policy implications
Introduction The debate of nature versus nurture seeks to place a dichotomization on the importance of the genome or environment in determining our propensity for a behavioral phenomenon or disease. Behavioral epigenetics has helped cement the realization that both need to be considered, providing empirical evidence of physical interactions between our genome and environment that can drive changes in behavior or disease etiology. Originally defined by Conrad Waddington in 1942, the term epigenetics has shifted definitions throughout the history of the field; it was originally used to describe how the process of fertilization is able to yield a complex organism through variations in gene expression (Felsenfeld, 2014; Waddington, 1940; Waddington, 1942). Literally translating to “above genetics”, David Moore (2015) more broadly defines epigenetics as the process by which genetic material is activated, * Tania L. Roth [email protected] 1
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, 108 Wolf Hall, Newark, DE 19716, USA
or deactivated, in different environmental contexts. Indeed, functioning more like a dimmer switch, epigenetic mechanisms enable our environments to dynamically interact with our genome and alter the degree to which our genes are expressed. A commonly studied epigenetic phenomenon in terms of behavior or disease is DNA methylation. Briefly, one mechanism that can occur at the molecular level in response
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