FATE OF FOOD-INGESTED DNA - A NEGLECTED TOPIC IN BIO-MEDICAL RESEARCH
Dr. Walter Doerfler*
ABSTRACT
This review is based on experimental work in the author’s laboratory over several decades. Food-ingested DNA provides the bulk of foreign DNA which constantly invades all organisms. Small amounts of this DNA are able to survive the gastro-intestinal passage and gain access to many organ systems via the lymphatic and blood circulatory systems. Foreign DNA entering mammalian cells can compromise the epigenetic stability of their genomes and alter their DNA methylation and transcription profiles. This occurs particularly, though not exclusively, when foreign DNA is inserted into the genomes of the recipient cells. Hence, hidden, hitherto unrecognized effects of food ingested DNA in an organism might attain unsuspected significance for many important mechanisms in biology and medicine.
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