CNRS gold medal: what is the contribution of epigenetics?

It is a booming field of research since the 2000s: epigenetics is a science which is interested not in DNA, but in the study of changes in the activity of genes. What were the major discoveries of this relatively new science? How could epigenetics ultimately allow us to fight against certain diseases?

Epigenetics: a recent area of ​​research

The first research works ofEdith Heard found themselves blocked by a phenomenon that was still little known at the time. The winner explains it this way: “During my thesis in London, I was actually studying a process which concerns the amplification of certain genes which are linked to the cancer process. And I tried to study the DNA of these amplified regions that increasingly expressed certain genes and that was really a technical reason to cut that DNA into small pieces in order to analyze it. I realized that this DNA was modified by epigenetic marks and therefore difficult to digest by what we call restriction enzymes which are a bit like the little scissors that allow you to cut the genome into small pieces to better study it. . I found myself looking for the cause and consequence of these epigenetic marks.”

Uneven gene expression

If each person has a specific genetic code, the expression or inactivation of certain genes evolves during gestation and the life of an individual. The researcher points out this phenomenon: “If one of the two X chromosomes is not inactivated during the development of a female embryo, the embryo will die. A double dose of all these genes on the X chromosome, in fact, is very problematic. So, we have to turn off these genes or put them on standby.“

What perspective for medical research?

If the mutation of certain genes is often considered to be the cause of the development of certain cancers, research work on their impact on the epigenetic process seems to give hope for the implementation of new treatment protocols: “This opens up possibilities not only to understand why genes under the.”