Interesting Article on Sleep/Genetics

[Red04]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9892792/Lack-of-sleep-switches-off-genes.html

Not a very scientific article. But could this be what causes mostly healthy people to get ME/CFS. I never really thought of genes turning on and off. But it would seem to make sense that CFS can onset from several types of stress. Emotional, Physical, Environmental, etc....

The hypothesis being that some stressor permanantly turns off a methylation gene.

 

[triffid113]

I always try to think what could be the mechanism. I don't think you can permanently turn off gene expression. It may be permanent at the state of our knowledge of how to reverse it, but unless tissues are damaged beyond repair, biochemistry (epigenetics) should be reversable.

So here is one way genes coukd be turned off due to stress. Stress is known to use up B vitamins (needed to work the methyl cycle). Stress also uses up zinc (to make adrenal hormones) and zinc is needed in the methyl cycle for methionine synthase. There may be other substances used up by stress in addition. Tyrosine comes to mind as it is required for some of the adrenal hormones. So say you use these up at rate X, but then you resupply them with crappy American diet at rate Y. If Y<X, then your methylation is forever affected. DNA requires methyls to turn on/off. So you have affected your genes and it lLOOKS LIKE forever. But if you instead manage to make Y>X, you could reverse it. Making Y>X is what we are all trying to do in this forum. It is not as easy as it sounds because there are startup reactions and biochemical pathways that opne up causing peripheral deficiencies, etc. But ONCE you achieve Y>X, then your epigenetics should be fine again. Unless you got cancer and actually destroyed the genes. Even then, some cancers are reversable.

 

[dbkita]

DNA methylation is one of the prime mechanisms for controlling gene expression. Including activation, up and down regulation and silencing.