The Emerging Field of Human Social Genomics

Abstract

Although we generally experience our bodies as being biologically stable across time and situations, an emerging field of research is demonstrating that external social conditions, especially our subjective perceptions of those conditions, can influence our most basic internal biological processes—namely, the expression of our genes. This research on human social genomics has begun to identify the types of genes that are subject to social-environmental regulation, the neural and molecular mechanisms that mediate the effects of social processes on gene expression, and the genetic polymorphisms that moderate individual differences in genomic sensitivity to social context. The molecular models resulting from this research provide new opportunities for understanding how social and genetic factors interact to shape complex behavioral phenotypes and susceptibility to disease. This research also sheds new light on the evolution of the human genome and challenges the fundamental belief that our molecular makeup is relatively stable and impermeable to social-environmental influence.

Kindness in the blood: A randomized controlled trial of the gene regulatory impact of prosocial behavior

“…Research has begun to map the molecular pathways through which negative social and psychological processes can influence disease risk by altering the pattern of gene expression by the human genome (Cole, 2014;Slavich and Cole, 2013). This research has identified a conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) in circulating leukocytes that is characterized by up-regulation of pro-inflammatory genes and down-regulation of genes involved in innate antiviral responses and antibody production (Cole, 2014;Slavich and Cole, 2013).…”

“…This research has identified a conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) in circulating leukocytes that is characterized by up-regulation of pro-inflammatory genes and down-regulation of genes involved in innate antiviral responses and antibody production (Cole, 2014;Slavich and Cole, 2013). The CTRA gene expression profile is mediated by both per-cell alterations in gene transcription and increased production of specific subtypes of leukocytes (particularly myeloid lineage monocytes and dendritic cells; Cole et al, 2011;Cole, 2014;Powell et al, 2013;Slavich and Cole, 2013). These dynamics are mediated by activation of β-adrenergic signaling pathways in response to sympathetic nervous system activity and take place over the course of several hours to a few days (Cole, 2010(Cole, , 2014Cole et al, 2015a;Powell et al, 2013;Slavich and Cole, 2013).…”

Adolescent Health Development: A Relational Developmental Systems Perspective

“…Empirically, indexing such facets of adolescent health development, in general, or the complex dimensions of evolutionary change linked to adolescent health development more specifically (e.g., Gissis and Jablonka 2011;Slavich and Cole 2013) may involve both point-in-time (cross-sectional) assessments and historical (longitudinal) assessments (Lerner 2004). Scientists must conduct such assessments within the context of recognizing that contexts are complex (e.g., they exist at multiple levels of organization ;Bronfenbrenner 1979).…”

Eliminating Genetic Reductionism from Developmental Science

“…There is a similarly large and convincing literature that genetic function is a relatively plastic outcome of mutually-influential relations among genes and the multiple levels of the context within which they are embedded: Cellular and extracellular physiological processes, psychological functioning, and the physical, social, and cultural features of the changing ecology that, together, create epigenetic change (e.g., Bateson, 2015;Cole, 2014;Jablonka & Lamb, 2005;Keller, 2010;Meaney, 2010Meaney, , 2014Misteli, 2013;Slavich & Cole, 2013).…”

“…Genes are constantly getting turned on and off across the life span, and most of this activity is stochastic and short term (and of largely unknown origin; Misteli, 2013). However, epigenetic changes are enduring, systematic, and even cross-generational (Meaney, 2010;Misteli, 2013;Slavich & Cole, 2013).…”