David Shenk cites in note 31, on page 195, that "the way genes and environments interact dialectically to generate an organism's appearance and behavior". Basically he is stating that the gene and environment cannot develop a person's personality and behavior independently, they are not separable. Therefore, it is understandable that children brought up in households of successful, hardworking parents will also most likely develop the same way. Their genes, from both the parents, also interact with their environment at home - probably a very studious environment. On the other hand, children brought up backward, poor, negligent households have little chance for such success, according to Shenk. The genes they received from their parents interact with their environment, leading to less success rates. Given this, what can be said about children who are extremely successful and intelligent, but come from such backward homes? How do you suppose that the genes interact with their environment? Is there any other way that these children are so successful, regardless of their environment? Relate your response to genes and gene regulation from Chapters 18 and 21.
Rohan Dasika (rohandasika@gmail.com)
Rohan Dasika (rohandasika@gmail.com)
According to David Shenk, “every human being…can grow smarter if the environment demands it” (44). In order to become extremely successful and intelligent, children from backward homes must adapt to their tough environment. However, because the environment imposes such challenging demands, the child may learn to overcome the most difficult obstacles on his/her own and gain incomparable experience. However, this type of gene-environment interaction places more responsibility on the child, who does not have the benefit of receiving “encouraging feedback” from supportive parents (47) nor attention from well-trained mentors (127), both factors that Shenk describes as powerful in creating greatness. In addition, while the environment of these backward homes may appear to be limiting factors, tiny, immeasurable influences from parental care may be enough to push the child towards overcoming the barriers. The success does not have to develop early on either. With the combination of a fortunate opportunity due to a variety of supportive conditions (e.g. the entry of a patient and supportive mentor) and the valuable experiences from overcoming the backwards homes, a child may be able to become extremely successful. Shenk also reminds us that “there is no age of impossibility” (124), with enough motivation and dedication, a child of a backwards home can still become extremely successful even well into his/her adulthood. In all of these cases, the environment can trigger a wide range of responses from the body, leading to gene regulation at a range of levels, from the packaging of the chromatin and DNA itself at the molecular level (Campbell 357) to alternative splicing during transcription (Campbell 356) to post-translational polypeptide modifications (Campbell 357). What is important is now through what mechanism the body changes gene expression, but due to what conditions. High expectations, encouragement, and attention from parents who are professionals set demands that the young child seeks to meet and thus causes change in gene expression. On the other hand, backwards homes and society outside of the house combine to put extreme demands on children in less-fortunate conditions, causing even greater levels of gene expression for those who manage to overcome the challenges. While the social interactions relate to the biological theme of interdependence in nature, the concept of altering gene expression, especially under extreme pressures, relates more to continuity and change as well as regulation and the adaptations of an individual to face environmental stress (Campbell 11). The fact is, humans are biological organisms that are always changing, even on the molecular level concerning gene expression, to adapt to their surroundings.
ReplyDeleteJust by living in a poor neighborhood with uncivilized surroundings, the children are already a step behind, since they look up to and learn from people who may be uneducated and might not have these children’s best interest in mind. However, there are the exceptions, the kids who rise up above their poor backgrounds because of their intelligence and/or special talents. Children who are extremely talented and intelligent that are brought up in backward, poor, negligent households are able to succeed in life usually because they have the motivation to keep up in their studies or skills in hopes for a better life. Their motivation is probably the poor environment they are living in at the present; they have not had the chance to live in a more fortunate household, but they know that they don’t want to be where they are at currently when they grow up. Therefore, these children may be inspired to try harder in their academics as well as other activities in order to reach their goal of a better, easier life to live in.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Chris Gardner is famous for his rags-to-riches story of living on next to nothing when learning a new trade while taking care of his only son, to becoming a successful stockbroker and CEO of the brokerage firm Gardner Rich. Gardner’s childhood was also “marked by poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse, and family illiteracy” (http://www.chrisgardnermedia.com/about/bio). However, his mother’s encouragement of attaining whatever goals he set for himself and always having options in his life, as well as his single child dependent on Gardner for survival, are what drove Gardner to take up a new trade (stockbroking) and helped push him to succeed and do well in his new job in order to give a better life to his son. Coming from a poor background and a difficult childhood, Gardner had many negative things to look back on, but instead continued to look forward in hopes for a better future. His poor background was not all negative, however; it gave him the inspiration to work harder for both himself and his son.
Like Justin says, the environment plays a large role in gene regulation by triggering many responses from the body. While a “typical human cell probably expresses about 20% of its genes at any given time”(Campbell 356), people who have overcome the challenges of living in a poor neighborhood probably have a larger percentage of gene expression than those who have lived in more fortunate environments. When a plant has to overcome abiotic stress from unfavorable environmental conditions such as extreme temperatures, water and nutrient availability, or light conditions, they alter their morphological features, such as “succulence of their leaves, placement of their stomata and specialization of tissues”. Plants have also evolved responses to stress and “set counteractive metabolic pathways in motion, such as in systemic acquired resistance against biotic stress or the activation of heat shock proteins” (http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/94/4/481.full). Humans work in similar ways to their poor environmental backgrounds by altering chromatin structure, histone acetylation, genomic imprinting in DNA methylation, etc, depending on the certain environmental factors on the child in order to adjust to the stress surrounding their lives.
Tracy Lai (tracymlai@hotmail.com)