Question

How do genetics (genetic predisposition) and the environment work together to cause substance abuse in individuals? What is the likely role of epigenetics in this process?

Answer 1

Genetics is the study of genes. Genes are functional units of DNA that make up the human genome. They provide the information that directs a body's basic cellular activities. Research on the human genome has shown that, on average, the DNA sequences of any two people are 99.9 percent the same. However, that 0.1 percent variation is profoundly important. t accounts for three million differences in the nearly three billion base pairs of DNA sequence. These differences contribute to visible variations, like height and hair color, and invisible traits, such as increased risk for or protection from certain diseases such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and addiction. Genetics and lifestyle factors—such as diet, physical activity, and stress—affect high blood pressure risk. NIDA research has led to discoveries about how a person's surroundings affect drug use in particular. For example, a community that provides healthy after-school activities has been shown to reduce vulnerability to drug addiction, and data show that access to exercise can discourage drug-seeking behavior, an effect that is more pronounced in males than in females.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

. Vulnerability to

develop an addiction to drugs is dependent on genetic, environmental, social and

biological factors. In particular, the interactions of environmental and genetic factors

indicate the significance of epigenetic mechanisms, which have been found to occur in

response to illicit drug use or as underlying factors in chronic substance abuse and

relapse. Epigenetics is defined as the heritable and possibly reversible modifications in

gene expression that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. This review

discusses the various types of epigenetic modifications and their relevance to drug

addiction to elucidate whether epigenetics is a predisposing factor, or a response to,

developing an addiction to drugs of abuse.