The study titled "Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance: Myths and Mechanisms" highlights the intricate interplay between genetics, epigenetics, and the environment in shaping hereditary information. With the human genome sequence, the focus has shifted to understanding how factors such as diet, air quality, and emotions might influence not just our genes but also those of future generations.
In 1975, Edward Tronick and his team introduced the “Still Face Experiment" at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. They observed a phenomenon where an infant, following three minutes of interaction with a non-responsive and expressionless mother, quickly becomes solemn and cautious. The infant repeatedly tries to restore the usual reciprocal interaction pattern, but when unsuccessful, withdraws. The infant then turns his face and body away from the mother, displaying a withdrawn and hopeless facial expression. This discovery continues to be one of the most widely confirmed findings in the field of developmental psychology.
The exposome is the cumulative measure of an individual's lifetime exposures from environmental and occupational sources and their impact on health. It encompasses interactions between exposures from the environment, diet, lifestyle, etc., and an individual's unique characteristics such as genetics, physiology, and epigenetics.
