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In 1994, one of the most horrific civil wars took place in the rural country of Rwanda. In a period of about 100 days, nearly one million people died. Most of the dead were Tutsi \u2013 a minority group that was targeted for extermination by the then government. In the aftermath of the genocide, many survivors were left with mental health problems such as\u00a0posttraumatic stress disorder<\/a>\u00a0(PTSD) and\u00a0depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Although decades have passed, the Rwandan people continue to cope with their enduring anguish \u2013 not only among those who lived through it but also by a second generation. This observation suggests that trauma, if not healed, can be passed on to descendants. Yet, how this occurs on a molecular level is poorly understood.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Now, new research from the University of South Florida (USF) and Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease Research is helping to provide insight into the mental health issues that have emerged from the Tutsi ethnic group genocide. Published in the January 2022 issue of\u00a0Epigenomics<\/em>, this study is a first-of-its-kind to examine the epigenomes of Tutsi women who were pregnant during the 1994 attacks and their children versus non-exposed pregnant Tutsi women and their offspring.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The human genome is the complete assembly of a person\u2019s DNA that makes them unique. On the other hand, the epigenome is the myriad of chemical compounds that attach to the DNA, directing the genes as to which proteins to make for particular cells. The genome is always the same in every cell, but the epigenome differs and can be modified. In addition, the\u00a0epigenetic<\/a>\u00a0chemical tags or \u201cmarks\u201d can be altered by the environment, and sometimes, these marks get passed on to future generations.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n One notable epigenetic mark that is stable and inheritable is\u00a0DNA methylation<\/a>. This mechanism regulates gene function and can change in response to life experiences. For example, previous articles have discussed how DNA methylation can be altered in patients with\u00a0PTSD<\/a>\u00a0and that stress-related epigenetic changes can be passed down to\u00a0babies born to mothers under extreme stress<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Here, the researchers\u2019 epigenome-wide study found that the genocide-exposed mothers and children had significantly differentially methylated regions (DMRs) compared to unexposed mothers and children. And, several of these methylation differences occurred in genes that are known to be associated with a risk for certain mental disorders like PTSD and depression.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n \u201cThese [epigenetic modifications] can happen in a shorter time frame than is needed for changes to the underlying DNA sequence of genes. Our study found that prenatal genocide exposure was associated with an epigenetic pattern suggestive of reduced gene function in offspring,\u201d said Monica Uddin, author, and professor in USF\u2019s College of Public Health.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The team compiled their results using DNA extracted from the blood of 59 participants, half of which were exposed personally or in utero to the genocide. Exposure included individuals that were impacted by trauma, such as evading capture or rape, witnessing a serious attack or murder, and seeing dead and mutilated bodies.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The data showed in utero genocide exposure was associated with methylation differences in 3 maternal DMRs:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>BCOR,\u00a0PRDM8,\u00a0and\u00a0VWDE, with higher DNA\u00a0methylation in exposed offspring. The data also showed that these individuals had a correlation between brain and blood methylation for BCOR and VWDE, indicating that peripherally obtained signals of genocide exposure may be of importance to brain function.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n As part of the\u00a0Human, Heredity & Health in Africa (H3Africa)<\/a>\u00a0consortium, this study supports other early life (in-utero) development studies and provides valuable data that can help improve both African and worldwide health.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n \u201cThe Rwandan people who are in this study and community as a whole really want to know what happened to them,\u201d said author Derek Wildman, USF professor. \u201cBecause there\u2019s a lot of PTSD and other mental health disorders in Rwanda and people want answers as to why they\u2019re experiencing these feelings and having these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Nearly 28 years later, the children of the exposed pregnant mothers are having children of their own. The researchers noted that they will soon start to look at how the genocide trauma affected the third generation, specifically evaluating their potential risk for mental health disorders.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Source:<\/strong>\u00a0C. Musanabaganwa et al. (2022).\u00a0Leukocyte methylomic imprints of exposure to the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda: a pilot epigenome-wide analysis<\/a>.\u00a0Epigenomics<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Reference:<\/strong>\u00a0Study finds Rwandan genocide chemically modified the DNA of victims and victims\u2019 offspring<\/a>. University of South Florida (USF Innovation), January 10, 2022.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”Read Full Article” style=”outline” color=”juicy-pink” align=”center” button_block=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whatisepigenetics.com%2Fthe-rwanda-genocide-dna-of-traumatized-women%2F||target:%20_blank|”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1643873185843{margin-top: 36px !important;}”] The Rwanda Genocide Left Lasting Marks [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-11812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-182"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11812"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11816,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812\/revisions\/11816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}This curated information was sourced from the www.whatisepigenetics.com<\/a> page<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/pre>\n