diff --git a/content/posts/karma-of-cells.md b/content/posts/karma-of-cells.md index b255f73..f6b800c 100644 --- a/content/posts/karma-of-cells.md +++ b/content/posts/karma-of-cells.md @@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ Every single day, 330 billion new cells (or 1% of the entire body) replace aged As a cell goes through life, it faces different situations and has to act accordingly by synthesizing the right proteins. This is where the cell's DNA plays a critical role; think of a cell's DNA as a vast cookbook. Each recipe in this cookbook (or each segment of the DNA) is a _gene_ which contains the instructions to prepare a protein. Proteins are how a cell performs essential functions like communication, creating hormones, fighting invaders, transporting nutrients and many other physiological processes essential for its survival. -{{< figure src="https://www.lgmd2ifund.org/wp-content/uploads/reading-gene.png" link="https://www.lgmd2ifund.org/science-basics/from-gene-to-protein" align="center" caption="The Central Dogma of Biology ([src](https://www.lgmd2ifund.org/science-basics/from-gene-to-protein))" >}} - The knowledge of when to express which genes (known as the _gene expression_) is stored in the cell's _epigenome_, a kind of cellular diary that remembers which recipes worked best [_[The Epigenome Learns From Its Experiences](https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/memory)_]. Unlike DNA, which changes slowly and randomly over many generations, the epigenome can change a lot in just one lifetime. The epigenome is a set of chemical compounds that live on the DNA strand. They don't change the DNA itself, but act like tags or markers that turn specific genes on and off. In this way they determine what proteins will a cell synthesize. Unlike the fixed DNA, epigenetic changes can occur frequently during a lifetime, and may be permanent or transient. The exact [mechanism of epigenetic updates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics#Mechanisms) is complex and probably needs at least some background in molecular biology.