Epigenetics. Meaning and importance

- Categories : Seeds and varieties

The word epigenetics comes from the Greek epi, in or on, and -genetics. Conrad Hal Waddington, in 1942, used this term for the first time. Epigenetics refers to the study of factors that interact with genes to modify their expression (phenotype). These genetic factors, which are determined by the cellular environment rather than by heredity, intervene in the development of an organism: from the fertilization of the zygote in sexual reproduction to its senescence, passing through the adult form, and which also intervenes in the heritable regulation of gene expression, without change in nucleotide sequence.

What is epigenetics and why is it important for marijuana plants?

It can be said that epigenetics is the set of chemical reactions and other processes that modify the activity of DNA but without altering its sequence. Considering epigenetic marks as non-genetic factors would take us away from the true vision of the scientific discipline. Epigenetic marks are not genes, but modern genetics teaches us that it is not only genes that influence the genetics of organisms . After the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, the idea that humans and other organisms are only fundamentally what is written in our genes from their conception, is changing by leaps and bounds, and science advances to to decipher the language that encodes small chemical modifications capable of regulating the expression of a multitude of genes. That very typical phrase “we are what we eat” takes on great meaning. The environment and food interact, among other factors, with genes to vary the final expression of the individual. That is why it is relevant that marijuana seeds are of the highest quality and inherit healthy epigenetics. Epigenetics reinterprets known concepts and reveals new mechanisms by which the information contained in the DNA of each individual is translated. Concept by concept, a new language of the genome is being deciphered and introducing the notion that our own experiences can mark our genetic material in a hitherto unknown way, and that these marks can be passed on to future generations. In short: we are not only what we eat but "will be what we eat." Epigenetics tells us that not only the gene is important but the environment in which it develops and reproduces. This would explain how the same clone placed in different environments would have a different end result, or because sometimes a female individual develops hermaphrodite flowers in some crops and not in others, or even how sex reversal is possible in cannabis. Epigenetics demonstrates the interaction of food, environment, conditions, and stress in the outcome of the final gene expression.