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Can Gene Mutation Change After Birth?

Changexpert

Senior Member
Messages
112
Can gene mutation change after birth? Is gene mutation always inherited or can it be acquired throughout your life? I am asking this question because before several surgeries, I was able to consume any food without any problem and have a regular bowel movement, 2-3 times a day. Unfortunately, my gut health has been impaired so much, which my parents never expected! Can mutation be acquired?
 

PennyIA

Senior Member
Messages
728
Location
Iowa
I'm not the best expert... but as I understand it there is some belief that a gene can be present... but not 'expressed'... i.e., the effect of the gene doesn't really kick in until some unknown "kickstarter" flips the switch to have it express itself.

For me, my theory is that while that may be true? It might also be more complex than that.

The body is filled with systems that have checks and balances... and they 'kick' in as they are signaled to do so. Sometimes they malfunction, but there are other 'check points' in the processes that tend to keep the entire process on track. I'm learning this is very much the truth as part of the Methylation process. And I had previously studied the blood clotting cascade process which had similar multiple checks and balances (i.e., too little and you tend to have bleeding issues and too much you tend to develop blood clots).

I think that when it comes to things like the methylation process we'll eventually learn that certain genes in and of themselves that have a defect may be fine, but if you combine defects in a specific combination of matches, you start having issues... BUT that what might happen is that it is also combined with environmental and dietary/stress/etc factors... Think of it like a sewage pipe, if the sewage flowing through is at normal mass and flow rates - even a defective process may still get it to the sewage treatment plant without too many problems. BUT, if the mass/volume/incoming speed of the sewage increases dramatically, then the system issues will become more obvious. The more defects in the system, the lower that 'capacity' levels are... the fewer defects in the system, the more 'capacity' works with only minor issues - and those minor issues may even be at a point of being symptom-free.

That said... genes are supposed to cover many factors - like of appearance. I, personally, was born with red hair... but it fell out when I was an infant and regrew as blond. By the time I was 18, my hair started to darken until I was a brunette (or well, until I stopped dying it blond to stay the color it had been when I was younger). My brother, and both my sons were very blond as children - but are growing out of blond and their hair is now quite brown. The eldest (the youngest doesn't have facial hair yet) - has brown hair with red facial hair. My grandson was born with auburn hair, but at six months it's now growing back in as light blond. I think most people's hair might change colors slightly - as in lighten more or darken more, but rarely change to multiple different actual colors (well, not counting changing to gray). I've been told it's a change in our gene expression - but no one can explain to me how these changes are getting triggered for all of us.
 

daniariete2000

Senior Member
Messages
118
But...in simple words..a gene mutation can be reversed or only a bad expression of gene can be reversed ?

Thanks
 

adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
Gene mutations can be acquired through the lifespan.

  • Hereditary mutations are inherited from a parent and are present throughout a person’s life in virtually every cell in the body. These mutations are also called germline mutations because they are present in the parent’s egg or sperm cells, which are also called germ cells. When an egg and a sperm cell unite, the resulting fertilized egg cell receives DNA from both parents. If this DNA has a mutation, the child that grows from the fertilized egg will have the mutation in each of his or her cells.

  • Acquired (or somatic) mutations occur at some time during a person’s life and are present only in certain cells, not in every cell in the body. These changes can be caused by environmental factors such as ultraviolet radiation from the sun, or can occur if a mistake is made as DNA copies itself during cell division. Acquired mutations in somatic cells (cells other than sperm and egg cells) cannot be passed on to the next generation.
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/mutationsanddisorders/genemutation
 

lansbergen

Senior Member
Messages
2,512
DNA can become damaged and if the repair machinery makes a mistake the DNA is changed. As long as it is not in the germline it will not be inherited
 

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
I am not sure why you are thinking in terms of gene mutations Changexpert? What sort of genes were you thinking of and what sort of problems did you think might be the result?
 

Changexpert

Senior Member
Messages
112
I am not sure why you are thinking in terms of gene mutations Changexpert? What sort of genes were you thinking of and what sort of problems did you think might be the result?
I am trying to figure out why I became so sensitive to food, especially high histamine ones. Also, I used to have regular bowel movements, 2-3 times a day, as stated in the original post, but now, I struggle to have even one daily. Furthermore, my body flares up so easily these days and rashes are occurring everywhere on my body.

I was curious if I acquired CBS or SUOX mutation, but it's just a guess for now. I ordered 23andme test kit this week, and will not have my genetics profile for at least 2-3 more weeks.
 

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
The genes you are born with stay the same in almost all cells in your body throughout life so you cannot acquire genetic defects in that sense. However, your entire adaptive immune response is built on new gene mutations that occur constantly throughout life. Every immunity to a virus and every allergy to something is due to the mutated genes in B cells and T cells that give us a specific immune response. But the mutation only stays in that particular set of B cells or T cells. All your other cells stay the same.

So new allergies are indeed due to new gene mutations - but not anything that would show up on a DNA screen.
 

adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
I am trying to figure out why I became so sensitive to food, especially high histamine ones. Also, I used to have regular bowel movements, 2-3 times a day, as stated in the original post, but now, I struggle to have even one daily. Furthermore, my body flares up so easily these days and rashes are occurring everywhere on my body.
Food sensitivities can be due to acquired gut dysbiosis, as your microflora is involved in the digestion of foods.
 

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
So epigenetics can't be inherited ? I was thinking the contrary...

I am not quite sure what you mean by epigenetics? People use the term loosely to mean all sorts of things. If you mean methylation in the germline genome then immune responses are not going to show up on that at all in the next generation - each individual has to learn its immune responses itself. Innate immune responses are inherited but the repertoire there has evolved by germline mutations over millenia.
 

daniariete2000

Senior Member
Messages
118
I mean any genes that can be just switched off without mutation of code..

And Hereditary mutations can be reversed ? I think if one piece is missing can't be repaired, is it correct ?
 
Messages
15,786
I am trying to figure out why I became so sensitive to food, especially high histamine ones. Also, I used to have regular bowel movements, 2-3 times a day, as stated in the original post, but now, I struggle to have even one daily. Furthermore, my body flares up so easily these days and rashes are occurring everywhere on my body.

I was curious if I acquired CBS or SUOX mutation, but it's just a guess for now. I ordered 23andme test kit this week, and will not have my genetics profile for at least 2-3 more weeks.
The CBS mutations which are the fad among the Yasko fan club actually have little or no impact. And the one which does have an impact is actually mildly beneficial. Because it's a problem of somewhat recent onset (versus from birth) the odds are that it isn't a genetic problem at all.

My suggestion is to talk to your doctor about your symptoms ... he or she might have some ideas about the cause, or how to test.
 

Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
The CBS mutations which are the fad among the Yasko fan club actually have little or no impact. And the one which does have an impact is actually mildly beneficial. Because it's a problem of somewhat recent onset (versus from birth) the odds are that it isn't a genetic problem at all.

My suggestion is to talk to your doctor about your symptoms ... he or she might have some ideas about the cause, or how to test.
There probably is some interaction between CBS with gut like @kel88 suggested, or with COMT or BHMT, I don't know. All I know it is a real issue, my husband has it, and many people here have it too, and CBS +/+ seems to be a good marker for it even though it hasn't been confirmed by reasearch yet.

No doctor I saw so far - be mainstream or integrative - knows what to do about sulfur sensitivity. They usually say or think "it's all in your head".
 
Messages
15,786
There probably is some interaction between CBS with gut like @kel88 suggested, or with COMT or BHMT, I don't know. All I know it is a real issue, my husband has it, and many people here have it too, and CBS +/+ seems to be a good marker for it even though it hasn't been confirmed by reasearch yet.
9% of humanity has CBS +/+ - are they all having those problems? I rather doubt it. And Kel88, while a nice and enthusiastic person, really does not have any understanding regarding genetics.

Yasko's claims are complete nonsense, based on a rather warped reading of a research paper which has no relevance to the SNPs which she tests. She's had years to provide the research, yet repeatedly fails to do so. Whereas numerous researchers have looked into CBS C699T and found that being +/+ confers mild health benefits, if anything.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
So epigenetics can't be inherited ? I was thinking the contrary...
Gene silencing appears to be somewhat heritable. It may or may not be an important factor.

Sudden changes later in life might be due to existing gene defects that only show up under some conditions. Hereditary deafness for example, which is often tied to age. However its far more likely this problem is not genetic. For a mutation to change you substantially as an adult then billions of the same mutation would have to occur through your cells. To change the genetics of a tissue or an organ, it would be fewer billions of the same mutations. The chance of this ever happening is so minute its a bit like you suffocating because all the air rushed out of the room due to chance. You could watch people for billions of years and never see it happen.

Having said that there is always the chance that a change in the microbiome could occur, with changes in their DNA. This is not mutation though. This might change tolerances.

Individual mutations are extremely unlikely to make a major change in health in an adult, with one important exception: cancer. Cancer is a dysregulated cell, and it can occur from mutation. The problem arises because the mutated cell replicates from one to a great many.

I am unclear that immune gene shuffling will have a major impact outside of the immune system unless it results in autoimmunity. Unless the issue is autoimmune I would not presume that is a factor, though its hard to be sure.

It is very unlikely that changes are genetic. Genes are not the only thing that determines what goes on in the body. Gene silencing is possible though, as are other alterations in gene expression.

Its important to look at all the other options, and to remember that medicine does not have all the answers yet.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Let me make one final point. Some viral infections are known to prefer inserting themselves in specific areas of the genome - and not just retroviruses either, viruses like HHV-6 can do this I think. If this happens enough then it can disrupt a lot of cell functioning, and maybe disrupt similar functioning in many cells. However this is very speculative and it would take some serious research to demonstrate that anything like this occurs at all.
 

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
I am unclear that immune gene shuffling will have a major impact outside of the immune system unless it results in autoimmunity. Unless the issue is autoimmune I would not presume that is a factor, though its hard to be sure.

Why should it be special to autoimmunity, Alex? All IgE mediated allergies are due to mutations in Ig genes leading to new antigenic specificities. A lot of asthma is antibody mediated. All adaptive immune responses involve mutations - usually a series of several, just as in cancer, where there is usually a series of several. In fact both tend to start off with a translocation event followed by further mutations - although for cancer this is not always the case.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Why should it be special to autoimmunity, Alex?

I was referring to B cell reshuffling. Just because there are are changes does not mean it will have an impact on general health. Unless there is some basis for this shuffling to occur in other cell types? It will alter immune response to pathogens and other antigens by broadening the possible responses.

What you seem to be saying though is that due to differential replication a mutation might become a major factor over time. But again, I do not see this having an impact that is outside of its immune function.

One thing that I wonder about though is if there are other rapidly dividing cell types for which mutation might have a more profound effect because the cell multiplies. Indeed your answer suggests this might be the case, as a mutation in some rapidly dividing cell types might substantially increase in numbers and start to have an impact.

Is it possible that bone marrow stem cells could mutate and multiply enough to have a major impact? How about cells in the gastrointestinal lining? Skin cells? If a tissue has high cell turnover there is potential for differential replication, and this does not have to mean cancer. Indeed I suspect that this is what many benign growths might be.