The Early Epigenome - Kickstarting a new Organism

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I've started class again so uploads will be less frequent. I've added sources and further reading at the bottom.

There's a lot that I wanted to put into this video that I decided would have been too tedious and had to cut, so for the super curious I'll explain more thoroughly here.

This video is kind of a battle of ideas between explaining how crazy cool the epigenome is, how crazy complex forming a new life-form is, and how crazy the fact that this all exists is. As a result, it feels a bit unfocused and I've already spent enough time diddling with it, so I just wanted to push it out the door and start on my next topic of research that's more focused.

As far as the axis determination, the biggest thing missing from the video is yet another protein and gene pathway called Wnt11. However to quote the paper I was using for this section of the process "During active Wnt signaling, this process [the deactivation of b-catenin] is inhibited through
an only partially understood mechanism" and since it wasn't certain how it activates the DsH protein I didn't feel like it merited being included if the end result is the same.

There's also the entire process of how, as the mesoderm genes are activated, the resulting proteins are passively secreted as the mesoderm involutes during gastrulation. These secretions induce the formation of specific endoderm structures in the cells above it. All of which is discussed heavily in the Savard paper cited.

Another thing I really wanted to discuss was epigenetic diseases and afflictions. Things like alcoholism and some mental instabilities can be caused be variables not directly involved in your DNA and there's been an amazing increase in research into this field. Ideally I hope I can inspire someone else to maybe choose epigenetics as a field of study in their future as it is a field rich for mining.

Alas, this video was probably a misstep in the progress I've been making in trying to improve my focus and flow during videos. Live and learn. Next video will be much more concise and compartmentalized. I promise.

Sources and extra reading:
1. Axis specification in Xenopus - doi:10.1242/dev.01284
2. Body axis determination during early development in amphibians - doi: 10.1139/o92-136
3. Epigenetics—Beyond the Genome in Alcoholism ()
4. Schizophrenia after prenatal famine. Further evidence. - doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1996.01830010027005
5. The Sinclair Lab ()
6. Developmental Biology (ISBN 9781605354705)