Gene–environment interactions

Early life stress and exposure to trauma can interact with a person’s genetics in several ways:
Post-transcriptional modification of enzymes that mediate epigenetic changes, e.g., modification of DNA methylation enzymes
Modulation of the activity of epigenetic enzymes, thereby increasing or decreasing downstream changes
Activation of proteins that bind to DNA and alter the methylation state of a gene, e.g., transcription factors
Altered expression of non-coding RNAs, which effect changes to DNA methylation, and alter the stability of mRNA transcripts – ultimately altering the level of gene expression.^1,²

DNA=deoxyribonucleic acid; mRNA=messenger ribonucleic acid; RNA=ribonucleic acid.