Washington: Poverty can leave a lasting imprint in our DNA, say scientists who have found that low socioeconomic status is linked to changes in over 1,500 genes.
Previous research has shown that socioeconomic status (SES) is a powerful determinant of human health and disease, and social inequality is a ubiquitous stressor for human populations globally.
Lower educational attainment and/or income predict increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, many cancers and infectious diseases, for example.
Furthermore, lower SES is associated with physiological processes that contribute to the development of disease, including chronic inflammation, insulin resistance and cortisol dysregulation.
Scientists from Northwestern University in the US found evidence that poverty can become embedded across wide swaths of the genome.
They discovered that lower socioeconomic status is associated with levels of DNA methylation (DNAm) — a key epigenetic mark that has the potential to shape gene expression — at more than 2,500 sites, across more than 1,500 genes.
In other words, poverty leaves a mark on nearly 10 per cent of the genes in the genome.
Experiences over the course of development become embodied in the genome, to literally shape its structure and function.
Follow-up studies will be needed to determine the health consequences of differential methylation at the sites the researchers identified, but many of the genes are associated with processes related to immune responses to infection, skeletal development and development of the nervous system.
PTI