85.9k views
5 votes
2. At the molecular level, speculate on some ways that the environment might have an influence on DNA and its packaging

User BCA
by
4.4k points

2 Answers

5 votes

Final answer:

Environmental factors can influence DNA and its packaging at the molecular level through epigenetic regulation and histone modification.

Step-by-step explanation:

Environmental factors can have an influence on DNA and its packaging at the molecular level. One way is through epigenetic regulation, where environmental factors can cause chemical modifications to DNA and histone proteins. For example, certain environmental factors can lead to the addition of methyl groups to specific cytosine nucleotides in DNA, which can affect gene expression. Another way is through the modification of histone proteins, such as acetylation and deacetylation, which can influence the packaging state of DNA and its accessibility for transcription.

User Lorenzo Gonzalez
by
4.2k points
6 votes

Answer: Histones, DNA methylation

Step-by-step explanation:

The double stranded DNA are wrapped twice around a histone protein and depending on how loosely or tightly DNA are wounded around histion, DNA can be either read or not. The nature of histones have the ability to control which sections of DNA get copied and expressed. Histone synthesis stops when DNA synthesis ceases, histone are modified by acetylation, methylation ADP--ribosylation and phosphorylation. It has shown that environmental factors such as diet can have an effect on protein structure. Alteration of the histone protein structure can affect the expression of some genes.

DNA methylation can also inhibit the expression of some genes, which can be caused by environmental factit's.

User AndreiC
by
4.5k points