BIOLOGY 1A03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Melanocyte, Agouti Gene, Metaphase

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOLOGY 1A03
• Professor: Lovaye Kajiura

Document Summary

Epigenetics and gene regulation (theme 3 applied lecture 2) Signals: cells detect signals from their environment, to detect that signal, there is a receptor (receiving protein) that sits on the cell, signals are sent down the signal transection pathway. Consequences of misregulation of epigenetics: cancer can occur, depends on how much methylation or acetylation occurs. Cancer: cancerous cells have lower levels of methylation. They are so low that they can increase expression of genes that promote cell growth. If there"s low levels of methylation of a promotor, there is never regulation and the cell just never stops dividing and growing: you can also have very high levels of methylation. If you have a lot of methylation at cpg islands, transcription factors and rna polymerase can not bind so the gene will not be transcribed or expressed. The effected mice are often fatter and they are more prone to cancer.