Medizinonline Medizinonline
  • News
    • News
    • Market & Medicine
  • Patients
    • Disease patterns
    • Diagnostics
    • Therapy
  • Partner Content
    • Dermatology
      • Atopic dermatitis and psoriasis news
      • Dermatology News
    • Diabetes
      • Dia-Month Club – Type 2 Diabetes
      • Diabetes in Motion
      • Diabetes Podcasts
    • Gastroenterology
      • IBD matters
      • Forum Gastroenterology
      • Ozanimod: ulcerative colitis
      • Reflux Update
    • Immunology
      • Primary immunodeficiency – exchange of experience
    • Vaccinate
      • Herpes zoster
    • Infektiologie
    • Neurology
      • EXPERT ULTRASONIC: Introduction to ultrasound-guided injection
      • MS News
      • MS Therapy in Transition
    • Oncology
      • Swiss Oncology in motion
    • Orthopedics
      • Osteoporosis in motion
    • Phytotherapie
    • Practice Management
      • Aargau Cantonal Bank
      • Claraspital
    • Psychiatry
      • Geriatric Psychiatry
    • Rheumatology
  • Departments
    • Allergology and clinical immunology
    • General Internal Medicine
    • Anesthesiology
    • Angiology
    • Surgery
    • Dermatology and venereology
    • Endocrinology and Diabetology
    • Nutrition
    • Gastroenterology and Hepatology
    • Genetics
    • Geriatrics
    • Gynecology
    • Hematology
    • Infectiology
    • Cardiology
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Emergency and intensive care medicine
    • Nuclear Medicine
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • ORL
    • Orthopedics
    • Pediatrics
    • Pharmacology and toxicology
    • Pharmaceutical medicine
    • Phlebology
    • Physical medicine and rehabilitation
    • Pneumology
    • Prevention and health care
    • Psychiatry and psychotherapy
    • Radiology
    • Forensic Medicine
    • Rheumatology
    • Sports Medicine
    • Traumatology and trauma surgery
    • Tropical and travel medicine
    • Urology
    • Dentistry
  • CME & Congresses
    • CME continuing education
    • Congress Reports
    • Congress calendar
  • Practice
    • Noctimed
    • Practice Management
    • Jobs
    • Interviews
  • Log In
  • Register
  • My account
  • Contact
  • English
    • Deutsch
    • Français
    • Italiano
    • Português
    • Español
  • Publications
  • Contact
  • Deutsch
  • English
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Português
  • Español
Subscribe
Medizinonline Medizinonline
Medizinonline Medizinonline
  • News
    • News
    • Market & Medicine
  • Patienten
    • Krankheitsbilder
    • Diagnostik
    • Therapie
  • Partner Content
    • Dermatology
      • Atopic dermatitis and psoriasis news
      • Dermatology News
    • Diabetes
      • Dia-Month Club – Type 2 Diabetes
      • Diabetes in Motion
      • Diabetes Podcasts
    • Gastroenterology
      • IBD matters
      • Forum Gastroenterology
      • Ozanimod: ulcerative colitis
      • Reflux Update
    • Immunology
      • Primary immunodeficiency – exchange of experience
    • Vaccinate
      • Herpes zoster
    • Infektiologie
    • Neurology
      • EXPERT ULTRASONIC: Introduction to ultrasound-guided injection
      • MS News
      • MS Therapy in Transition
    • Oncology
      • Swiss Oncology in motion
    • Orthopedics
      • Osteoporosis in motion
    • Phytotherapie
    • Practice Management
      • Aargau Cantonal Bank
      • Claraspital
    • Psychiatry
      • Geriatric Psychiatry
    • Rheumatology
  • Departments
    • Fachbereiche 1-13
      • Allergology and clinical immunology
      • General Internal Medicine
      • Anesthesiology
      • Angiology
      • Surgery
      • Dermatology and venereology
      • Endocrinology and Diabetology
      • Nutrition
      • Gastroenterology and Hepatology
      • Genetics
      • Geriatrics
      • Gynecology
      • Hematology
    • Fachbereiche 14-26
      • Infectiology
      • Cardiology
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology
      • Emergency and intensive care medicine
      • Nuclear Medicine
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • ORL
      • Orthopedics
      • Pediatrics
      • Pharmacology and toxicology
      • Pharmaceutical medicine
    • Fachbereiche 26-38
      • Phlebology
      • Physical medicine and rehabilitation
      • Phytotherapy
      • Pneumology
      • Prevention and health care
      • Psychiatry and psychotherapy
      • Radiology
      • Forensic Medicine
      • Rheumatology
      • Sports Medicine
      • Traumatology and trauma surgery
      • Tropical and travel medicine
      • Urology
      • Dentistry
  • CME & Congresses
    • CME continuing education
    • Congress Reports
    • Congress calendar
  • Practice
    • Noctimed
    • Practice Management
    • Jobs
    • Interviews
Login

Sie haben noch keinen Account? Registrieren

  • Trend Lecture Novartis

Why we are not slaves to our genes

    • Congress Reports
    • Genetics
    • RX
  • 2 minute read

n biochemist who can explain in a generally understandable way, without a manuscript or a PowerPoint presentation, how unique every human being is, may well be called particularly gifted. At the SGIM congress in Basel, Prof. em. Gottfried Schatz, MD, not only to captivate the audience, but also to give them a sense of uniqueness.

Humans are not just pre-programmed biochemical machines subject only to the dictates of hereditary material, but have it in their own hands to bring about changes for their lives and also for their descendants, according to the core message of the former director of the Biozentrum in Basel. “Each person is a distinctive molecular individual,” because the highest principle of nature is to produce as many phenotypes as possible, he said.

As explained by Prof. em. Gottfried Schatz, MD, this optimistic view? In the wealth of information in our genome, not only one expression is fixed in each case, but a multitude of complex processes is possible: whether the genome is read, how often this takes place and at what time – these variants alone are an expression of this diversity. Our genome is stored in the nucleus of every cell and has 3.2 billion letters, over 95% of which are genes that are not yet recognizable to us. Thanks to maternal and paternal variants, we could theoretically form over 50,000 different proteins. In fact, the diversity is much greater through processes after reading, so up to 70,000 proteins can be created from one gene through diversity as read and further chemically modified.

In addition, the environment can change genes: Mutations are rearrangements of the sequence of letters such as loss or duplication. Epigenetic changes are changes to the letters themselves, the most common being methylations. Our lifestyle, diet, diseases, drugs, and even social interactions leave methylation traces.

“The richness of our genetic heritage lies not only in its size, but also in the virtuosity with which we make use of it,” Prof. Schatz said. Our brain cells, for example, are able to chemically modify proteins in response to environmental stimuli. It is also interesting to note the phenomenon that identical twins develop more and more individual “peculiarities” in the course of their lives. This is a clear indication that the environment can very well influence the “biochemical machine”. Using further examples from genetic research, Prof. Schatz showed how flexible the blueprint and information content of the genome of individual species are. Homo sapiens is at the top of the hierarchy. “Man, as highly complex matter, is a miracle in a chemically primordial universe. We interpret the genes, each of us is a dream of his genes.”

Source: 81st Annual Meeting of the SGIM, May 29-31, 2013, Basel.

Literature:

  1. Schatz, G: Beyond the genes. Essays about our being, our world and our dreams. 2012; Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich.
Autoren
  • Dr. med. Susanne Schelosky
Publikation
  • HAUSARZT PRAXIS
Related Topics
  • Gene
  • Genome
  • SGIM
Previous Article
  • Infectious diseases

Some virus

  • Infectiology
  • News
  • RX
View Post
Next Article
  • Dry irritated skin

“Skin care should give a pleasant feeling”.

  • Dermatology and venereology
  • Interviews
  • RX
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • 3 min
  • Cancer prevention

Poorer prognosis for men who avoid prostate cancer screening

    • Congress Reports
    • Oncology
    • Prevention and health care
    • RX
    • Studies
    • Urology
View Post
  • 12 min
  • Liver steatosis with metabolic dysfunction

New nomenclature for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

    • CME continuing education
    • Gastroenterology and Hepatology
    • General Internal Medicine
    • RX
    • Studies
View Post
  • 15 min
  • Diabetes mellitus

Treatment of comorbidities in older people

    • Cardiology
    • CME continuing education
    • Endocrinology and Diabetology
    • General Internal Medicine
    • Geriatrics
    • RX
View Post
  • 4 min
  • Type 2 diabetes: PAD and diabetic foot syndrome

Prevention is better than cure – don’t miss the risk foot

    • Cardiology
    • Congress Reports
    • Endocrinology and Diabetology
    • General Internal Medicine
    • Geriatrics
    • Prevention and health care
    • RX
View Post
  • 2 min
  • Prostate cancer

High-resolution ultrasound could diagnose prostate cancer faster

    • Congress Reports
    • Oncology
    • RX
    • Studies
    • Urology
View Post
  • 9 min
  • Chronic lung diseases

Sarcopenia and malnutrition in the context of pneumological rehabilitation

    • CME continuing education
    • General Internal Medicine
    • Geriatrics
    • Nutrition
    • Pneumology
    • RX
    • Sports Medicine
    • Studies
View Post
  • 8 min
  • Psychooncology

Communication as the key to therapy adherence

    • CME continuing education
    • General Internal Medicine
    • Practice Management
    • RX
View Post
  • 16 min
  • Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasia

Rare malignancy from a dermatological perspective

    • CME continuing education
    • Dermatology and venereology
    • Genetics
    • Hematology
    • Oncology
    • RX
Top Partner Content
  • Forum Gastroenterology

    Zum Thema
  • Herpes zoster

    Zum Thema
  • Dermatology News

    Zum Thema
Top CME content
  • 1
    Treatment of comorbidities in older people
  • 2
    New nomenclature for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
  • 3
    Rare malignancy from a dermatological perspective
  • 4
    Communication as the key to therapy adherence
  • 5
    Patience, knowledge and persistence in therapy

Newsletter

Sign up and stay up to date

Subscribe
Medizinonline
  • Contact
  • General terms and conditions
  • Imprint

Input your search keywords and press Enter.