In our years, sequencing DNA has been a common occurrence, and now another kind of sequencing is emerging-sequencing epigenes. And to most people, the latter seems to be more useful than the former.
The so-called epigenes refer to some modified chemical substances attached to DNA bases. They are similar to the switch of genes. They don’t change your DNA, but they can change the function of genes, such as making them useless. It is especially important that epigenes are our response to the environment (such as lifestyle), so they can be turned off and on by changing lifestyles.
The purpose of epigene sequencing is to understand the state of these gene switches in our body through sequencing, and then adjust our lifestyle (such as diet) to change these gene switches and improve our health. What state these gene switches were originally in, and what state they were in after changing their lifestyles, all need to be sequenced again and again (unlike DNA sequencing, which is done once).
To some extent, epigene sequencing is more useful to us than DNA sequencing. Because after sequencing the DNA, even if we get bad results, we can hardly change it. No matter what we do, we cannot eliminate the bad genes. Epigenes are not the case, we can manipulate them by adjusting our lifestyle.
Currently, what can epigene sequencing do for us?
First, epigene sequencing can reveal our biological age. Compared with age in the general sense, biological age is a better indicator of cell aging and damage. What we usually call age only rises but does not fall, but biological age can fluctuate with changes in lifestyle.
Second, epigene sequencing can also tell us about mental stress, inflammation, and the effects of pollution. Through regular sequencing, we can understand whether our efforts to change our lifestyle have achieved results.
With the development of technology, epigene sequencing will become a common occurrence in the near future.
