Five years of Ferguson

By: James V. Kohl | Published on: May 15, 2015

2010 by Lynnette R. Ferguson
Dietary influences on mutagenesis—Where is this field going?
Conclusion:

Optimizing nutritional approaches to the reduction of mutagenesis will require the innovative application of many of the newer technologies becoming available. It is essential not to underestimate the importance of the field.

2015 co-authored by Lynnette R. Ferguson
The Interaction between Epigenetics, Nutrition and the Development of Cancer  This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutritional Epigenetics
Excerpt:

Dysregulation of miRNAs is associated with the development of a number of cancers, and it is thought that miRNAs function as a genome surveillance mechanism [65].

My comment: [65] is Van Wolfswinkel, J.C.; Ketting, R.F. The role of small non-coding RNAs in genome stability and chromatin organization. J. Cell Sci. 2010, 123, 1825–1839.
This is the abstract of my invited review of nutritional epigenetics, which was submitted for inclusion in the Special Issue Nutritional Epigenetics after a request for the submission from Lynnette R. Ferguson and Justin O’Sullivan.
Nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled ecological adaptations: from atoms to ecosystems
Abstract:

This atoms to ecosystems model of ecological adaptations links nutrient-dependent epigenetic effects on base pairs and amino acid substitutions to pheromone-controlled changes in the microRNA / messenger RNA balance and chromosomal rearrangements. The nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled changes are required for the thermodynamic regulation of intracellular signaling, which enables biophysically constrained nutrient-dependent protein folding; experience-dependent receptor-mediated behaviors, and organism-level thermoregulation in ever-changing ecological niches and social niches. Nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled ecological, social, neurogenic and socio-cognitive niche construction are manifested in increasing organismal complexity in species from microbes to man. Species diversity is a biologically-based nutrient-dependent morphological fact and species-specific pheromones control the physiology of reproduction. The reciprocal relationships of species-typical nutrient-dependent morphological and behavioral diversity are enabled by pheromone-controlled reproduction. Ecological variations and biophysically constrained natural selection of nutrients cause the behaviors that enable ecological adaptations. Species diversity is ecologically validated proof-of-concept. Ideas from population genetics, which exclude ecological factors, are integrated with an experimental evidence-based approach that establishes what is currently known. This is known: Olfactory/pheromonal input links food odors and social odors from the epigenetic landscape to the physical landscape of DNA in the organized genomes of species from microbes to man during their development.

My comment:  Lynnette R. Ferguson tries to move forward from mutagenesis via information on microRNAs without linking nutrient-dependent microRNAs to cell type differentiation via RNA-directed DNA methylation and RNA-mediated amino acid substitutions that differentiate the cell types of all cells in all individuals of all genera.
In the Special Issue Nutritional Epigenetics, nothing is linked to anything different than Ferguson’s prior claims in the context of mutagenesis — except now she mentions microRNAs. Readers might not get the impression that nutrient-dependent microRNAs prevent viral microRNAs from damaging DNA and causing cancer. Indeed, they might be left with the ridiculous idea that some mutations are beneficial or that the claims of evolutionary theorists are important to consider when linking nutritional epigenetics to pharmacogenomics via RNA-mediated metabolic networks and genetic networks.


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