Introduction
The study of gene expression and the mechanisms of inheritance are a critical field of study that requires further expansion and enhancement drastically due to the opportunities for addressing gene mutations and the related diseases that it provides. Therefore, epigenetics has to be regarded as a critical component of effective management of health concerns that are currently placed on the top of the healthcare agenda.
Main body
According to the details of the research, the concepts of the inheritance mechanisms suggest that the presence of epigenetics in the development of unique characteristics and traits. It is worth mentioning that the study of the subject matter used to involve quite a substantial amount of drama, with one of the scientists, Paul Kramerer, inking the laboratory rats and eventually committing suicide under the pressure of the shameful publicity (“Inheritance,” 2012, 00:31:41). The overall concept of genetic inheritance suggests that, during gene production, pairs of alleles have to segregate in order for each gamete to have a pair of alleles for a single gene (Hurley, 2013).
The implications of the research are immense for the scientific world since they allow eliciting a plethora of facts about parental behavior and the inheritance mechanisms. Specifically, applying the facts in question to the human personality development process, one will have to admit that biological factors have a significant impact on the process of shaping one’s personality along with sociological ones (Webster, 2013). As a result, one’s personality is defined by nature to basically the same extent as nurture (Weaver et al., 2004). The outcomes of the research do not mean that one should cease the attempts at improving one’s characteristics by referring to one’s genes. Instead of setting limitations, one should embrace the opportunities with which one is provided based on one’s genetic material.
Conclusion
Given the outcomes of the rat mother test, one may infer that the future of epigenetics is rather bright. The described field of studies will help to shed light on the nature of gene expression as far as different genotypes and phenotypes are concerned, which, in turn, will allow addressing multiple health issues on a genetic level (“Inheritance,” 2012). Specifically, one will be able to modify the chances of reducing a threat of a genetic mutation significantly, yet the dilemma of nature versus nurture may halt the progress in the identified area. Since human experiments remain an ethically questionable issue, the development of epigenetics may be hampered slightly.
References
- Hurley, D. (2013). Trait vs fate. Discover, 34(4), 48.
- Inheritance. (2012). Web.
- Weaver, I. C., Cervoni, N., Champagne, F. A., D’Alessio, A. C., Sharma, S., Seckl, J. R.,… Meaney, M. J. (2004). Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior. Nature Neuroscience, 7(8), 847-754. doi:10.1038/nn1276
- Webster, M. (2013). The great rat mother switcheroo. Web.