Can you change your DNA?

[format 0]

There's a DNA when you become a living unit.
Do you think your life style can change it?

What goes around, comes later.

[quade 3]

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There's a DNA when you become a living unit.
Do you think your life style can change it?

No. Cosmic radiation and ultraviolet light can mutate a few cells which, left unchecked, causes cancer, but short of that, no. Once your DNA is stitched together, then overall it's not going to change. It's certainly NOT going to change if you take up skydiving or running or whatever normal human activity you have in mind.

That said, adding certain substance to your body might inhibit your gametes from constructing new DNA properly for the next generation. Don't do a lot of drugs before conceiving a kid.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[billvon 2,435]

>Do you think your life style can change it?

Sort of.

First off as you age your DNA ages with you. You lose the "ends" of the DNA (called telomeres) and eventually the cell that contains that DNA can no longer reproduce. This is a bad thing when those are skin cells; that's one reason skin gets inflexible and leathery as you get older. However it is a very, very good thing when one of those cells goes nuts and starts dividing uncontrollably (i.e. cancer.) This "built in" life limit (apoptosis) is one way that cancer gets shut down before killing the host. Unfortunately that doesn't always work.

Secondly chemical damage and damage from radiation can mutate your DNA. 99.99% of the time this either does nothing (good) or kills the cell (also good.) .01% of the time the cell starts doing something it's not supposed to do, even something deadly.

Thirdly some viruses can actually change the DNA of infected cells permanently. This is great for viruses (your cells now make new viruses) but not so good for you. Researchers are now trying to harness this ability to do some 'genetic repair' of cells. For example, they might create a virus that infects only cells in your pancreas and makes them produce more insulin.

Fourth, your lifestyle can cause epigenetic changes in your DNA. These are not actual changes in the base pairs (i.e. the UCA AGA AGG codon patterns that make up your genes) but rather changes in the outer parts of the base pairs and the proteins that hold DNA together. These are "permanent" changes (they stick with you) and can even be passed on to your offspring. For example, going hungry as a child can lead you to have children that are more resistant to cardiovascular disease.

Finally there are many permanent changes your body goes through that are caused by lifestyle that can't be 'reversed' by simply changing your lifestyle. Heavy smokers, for example, never recover full lung function, although they can get a lot of it back. These are not genetic changes, though.

[Tink1717 2]

Why do you want to know?

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[LuckyMcSwervy 0]

quade

***There's a DNA when you become a living unit.
Do you think your life style can change it?

No. Cosmic radiation and ultraviolet light can mutate a few cells which, left unchecked, causes cancer, but short of that, no. Once your DNA is stitched together, then overall it's not going to change. It's certainly NOT going to change if you take up skydiving or running or whatever normal human activity you have in mind.

That said, adding certain substance to your body might inhibit your gametes from constructing new DNA properly for the next generation. Don't do a lot of drugs before conceiving a kid.

If you only knew how many times I was laughed at because I used to cite that as one of the many reasons why I never did drugs as a teenager.

Always be kinder than you feel.

[LuckyMcSwervy 0]

I believe I just read that NASA uses astronaut Mark Kelly and his identical twin brother as case studies on the effects of space on your DNA because Mark and his brother have *almost* identical DNA. IIRC, the differences were from environmental causes? I can't remember.

Always be kinder than you feel.