Social Regulation of Human Gene Expression: Mechanisms and Implications for Public Health
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Recent analyses have discovered broad alterations in the expression of human genes across different social environments. The emerging field of social genomics has begun to identify the types of genes sensitive to social regulation, the biological signaling pathways mediating these effects, and the genetic polymorphisms that modify their individual impact. The human genome appears to have evolved specific "social programs" to adapt molecular physiology to the changing patterns of threat and opportunity ancestrally associated with changing social conditions. In the context of the immune system, this programming now fosters many of the diseases that dominate public health. The embedding of individual genomes within a broader metagenomic network provides a framework for integrating molecular, physiologic, and social perspectives on human health.
Author: Steven W. Cole
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Language: English
Subfield: Behavioral Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1985096225