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Gene-Gut-Brain Axis: Gene-Based Personalized Medicine

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Book cover Nutrigenomics and the Brain

Part of the book series: Nutritional Neurosciences ((NN))

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Abstract

The human genome is composed of three billion base pairs that include coding and noncoding sequences. The coding sequences encode for more than 20,000 genes that are responsible for different human phenotypes (Salzberg 2018). While the primary sequence of nucleotide in the human genome dictates the individual’s traits, modification of DNA nucleotide or the histone proteins has profound effects on the gene expression pattern and the resulting phenotypes. Such modifications are known as epigenetic modifications which substantially affects the individual’s phenotypic characteristics without changing the primary structure of the DNA (Yi and Goodisman 2021). A study of identical twins revealed that interaction between the genome and the environment considerably affects the phenotypic outcome irrespective of the similarity of the primary sequence of the DNA (Fraga et al. 2005). While environmental factors can affect the individual’s phenotype through changing the primary sequence of the DNA (induction of mutations), modification of the epigenome has a significant impact as a mediator of environmental effects on the individual’s phenotypic characteristics. Among the environmental factors that modulate the epigenome, nutrition has a great influence (Mullins et al. 2020). A study of the interaction between the nutrition and individual’s genome in order to guide individually tailored nutritional intervention is a promising field not only for diseases prevention and management but also for health improvement (Astley 2007; Peregrin 2001). In the future, personalized nutritional advice will be easily suggested based on the individual genetic variation by the aid of the advanced “omics” approaches.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

    Samir A. Salama

  2. Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University of Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt

    Duaa Dakhlallah

  3. Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, and Member of Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, Erma Byrd Biomedical Research Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Duaa Dakhlallah

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  1. Samir A. Salama
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Correspondence to Duaa Dakhlallah .

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  1. The Institute of Global Public Health and Human Ecology, American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed Salama

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Salama, S.A., Dakhlallah, D. (2022). Gene-Gut-Brain Axis: Gene-Based Personalized Medicine. In: Salama, M. (eds) Nutrigenomics and the Brain. Nutritional Neurosciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9205-5_3

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