Gene Regulation & Gene Expression

Even though all your cells have the same DNA, they still have their own unique roles to play in the body. A process called gene regulation turns genes “on” or “off” depending on each cell’s needs.

When a gene gets turned "on," it's expressed. This means that the cell uses it to make hundreds of copies of a protein. 

Once cells have enough of this protein, they can then tell the gene to turn back “off.” Turned-off genes are not expressed. This communication helps maintain balance throughout the body.

In real life, it's not this simple. A lot of genes are not simply turned “on” or “off,” but are fine-tuned to produce a certain amount of protein. The environment and your lifestyle can alter this fine-tuning.

Epigenetics is the study of how the environment and your lifestyle can change the activity of your genes, as well as how these changes can be inherited.

Therefore, your genes are often not the be-all and end-all of your health.

For example, people with certain genetic variants may produce less serotonin. Low serotonin might make them more prone to certain psychological conditions. But, serotonin levels can change depending on environmental factors.

This is how SelfDecode works! We look at your genes to predict what lifestyle, diet, and supplement recommendations will work best for you.