The biology of gender, from DNA to the brain | Karissa Sanbonmatsu

Prevodilac: Aleksandar Bošnjak Lektor: Ivana Krivokuća

So what does it mean to be a woman?

Dakle, šta znači biti žena?

We all have XX chromosomes, right?

Svi imamo hromozome XX, zar ne?

Actually, that's not true.

Zapravo, to nije tačno.

Some women are mosaics.

Neke žene su mozaici.

They have a mix of chromosome types with X, with XY or with XXX.

Imaju mešavinu tipova hromozoma sa X, XY ili XXX.

If it's not just about our chromosomes,

Ako se ne radi samo o našim hromozima,

then what is being a woman about?

šta onda znači biti žena?

Being feminine?

Biti ženstvena?

Getting married?

Biti venčana?

Having kids?

Imati decu?

You don't have to look far to find fantastic exceptions

Ne moram da tražim puno da bih našla fantastične izuzetke

to these rules,

od ovih pravila,

but we all share something that makes us women.

ali svi delimo nešto što nas čini ženama.

Maybe that something is in our brains.

Možda je to nešto u našim mozgovima.

You might have heard theories from last century

Možda ste čuli teorije iz prošlog veka

about how men are better at math than women

kako su muškarci bolji u matematici od žena

because they have bigger brains.

jer imaju veće mozgove.

These theories have been debunked.

Ove teorije su opovrgnute.

The average man has a brain about three times smaller

Prosečan muškarac ima mozak tri puta manji

than the average elephant,

od prosečnog slona,

but that doesn't mean

ali to ne znači da je prosečan muškarac tri puta gluplji od slona...

the average man is three times dumber than an elephant ...

or does it?

ili znači?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

There's a new wave of female neuroscientists

Postoji novi talas neuronaučnica

that are finding important differences between female and male brains

koje pronalaze važne razlike između ženskog i muškog mozga

in neuron connectivity,

u povezanosti neurona,

in brain structure, in brain activity.

u strukturi mozga, u aktivnosti mozga.

They're finding that the brain is like a patchwork mosaic --

Otkrile su da je mozak kao krpljeni mozaik,

a mixture.

mešavina.

Women have mostly female patches and a few male patches.

Žene imaju uglavnom ženske zakrpe, a malo muških zakrpa.

With all this new data, what does it mean to be a woman?

Sa svim ovim novim podacima, šta znači biti žena?

This is something that I've been thinking about almost my entire life.

Ovo je nešto o čemu sam mislila maltene ceo svoj život.

When people learn that I'm a woman who happens to be transgender,

Kad ljudi saznaju da sam žena, koja je usput transrodna osoba,

they always ask,

uvek pitaju:

"How do you know you're a woman?"

„Kako znaš da si žena?"

As a scientist, I'm searching for a biological basis of gender.

Kao naučnica tragam za biološkom osnovom pola.

I want to understand what makes me me.

Želim da razumem zbog čega sam ja ono što jesam.

New discoveries at the front edge of science

Nova otkrića u vrhu nauke

are shedding light on the biomarkers that define gender.

objašnjavaju biomarkere koji definišu pol.

My colleagues and I in genetics, neuroscience, physiology and psychology,

Moje kolege i ja u genetici, neuronaukama, fiziologiji i psihologiji

we're trying to figure out exactly how gender works.

pokušavamo da otkrijemo kako pol tačno funkcioniše.

These vastly different fields share a common connection --

Ova veoma različita polja dele zajedničku vezu,

epigenetics.

epigenetiku.

In epigenetics, we're studying how DNA activity

U epigenetici proučavamo kako se aktivnost DNK

can actually radically and permanently change,

može zapravo radikalno i trajno promeniti,

even though the sequence stays the same.

iako niz ostaje isti.

DNA is the long, string-like molecule that winds up inside our cells.

DNK je dugačak molekul popun vrpce koji se namotava unutar naših ćelija.

There's so much DNA

Postoji toliko DNK

that it actually gets tangled into these knot-like things --

da se zapravo zapetljava u nešto poput čvorova -

we'll just call them knots.

zvaćemo ih čvorovi.

So external factors change how those DNA knots are formed.

Dakle, spoljašnji faktori menjaju to kako se ti DNK čvorovi formiraju.

You can think of it like this:

Možete da zamislite to na ovaj način:

inside our cells, there's different contraptions building things,

unutar naših ćelija postoje različite naprave koji stvaraju stvari,

connecting circuits,

povezuju procese

doing all the things they need to make life happen.

i rade sve stvari koje su potrebne da bi se desio život.

Here's one that's sort of reading the DNA and making RNA.

Evo ga jedan koji čita DNK i pravi RNK.

And then this one is carrying a huge sac of neurotransmitters

Onda ovaj nosi veliku kesu neurotransmitera

from one end of the brain cell

od jednog kraja ćelije mozga

to the other.

do drugog.

Don't they get hazard pay for this kind of work?

Zar ne zaslužuju ogromnu platu za ovakav posao?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

This one is an entire molecular factory --

Ovaj ovde je čitava fabrika molekula,

some say it's the secret to life.

neki kažu da je to tajna života.

It's call the ribosome.

Zove se ribozom.

I've been studying this since 2001.

Proučavam ovo od 2001. godine.

One of the stunning things about our cells

Jedna divna stvar u vezi sa našim ćelijama

is that the components inside them are actually biodegradable.

je ta što su sastavni delovi unutar njih zapravo biorazgradivi.

They dissolve,

Oni se rastvaraju

and then they're rebuilt each day,

i ponovo se izgrađuju svakog dana,

kind of like a traveling carnival

poput putujućeg karnevala

where the rides are taken down and then rebuilt every single day.

gde se mašine rasklapaju, a onda ponovo sklapaju svakog dana.

A big difference between our cells and the traveling carnival

Velika razlika između naših ćelija i putujućeg karnevala

is that in the carnival,

je ta što na karnevalu

there are skilled craftsmen that rebuild the rides each day.

postoje vešti majstori koji ponovo grade mašine svaki dan.

In our cells, there are no such skilled craftsmen,

U našim ćelijama ne postoje takvi vešti majstori,

only dumb builder machines

samo neme mašine za izgradnju

that build whatever's written in the plans,

koje grade šta god da je napisano u planovima,

no matter what those plans say.

bez obzira na to šta ti planovi kažu.

Those plans are the DNA.

Ti planovi su DNK.

The instructions for every nook and cranny inside our cells.

Uputstva za svaki ćošak i pukotinu unutar naših ćelija.

If everything in, say, our brain cells

Ako se sve u, recimo, našim ćelijama mozga

dissolves almost every day,

rastavlja skoro svakog dana,

then how can the brain remember anything past one day?

kako onda mozak može da zapamti bilo šta od prošlog dana?

That's where DNA comes in.

Tada DNK nastupa.

DNA is one of the those things that does not dissolve.

DNK je jedna od onih stvari koje se ne rastavljaju.

But for DNA to remember that something happened,

Ali da bi DNK zapamtila da se nešto desilo,

it has to change somehow.

mora da se promeni nekako.

We know the change can't be in the sequence;

Znamo da promena ne može da se desi u nizu;

if it changed sequence all the time,

da menja nizove sve vreme,

then we might be growing like, a new ear or a new eyeball every single day.

možda bi nam možda izraslo novo uvo, ili nova očna jabučica svakog dana.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So, instead it changes shape,

Umesto toga menja oblik,

and that's where those DNA knots come in.

a tada oni čvorovi DNK nastupaju.

You can think of them like DNA memory.

Možete razmišljati o njima kao o memoriji DNK.

When something big in our life happens,

Kad se nešto veliko desi u našim životima,

like a traumatic childhood event,

poput traumatičnog događaja iz detinjstva,

stress hormones flood our brain.

hormoni stresa preplavljuju naš mozak.

The stress hormones don't affect the sequence of DNA,

Hormoni stresa ne deluju na niz DNK,

but they do change the shape.

ali menjaju oblik.

They affect that part of DNA

Deluju na taj deo DNK

with the instructions for molecular machines that reduce stress.

sa upustvima za molekularne mašine koje umanjuju stres.

That piece of DNA gets wound up into a knot,

Taj deo DNK biva zamotan u čvor,

and now the dumb builder machines can't read the plans they need

pa mašina za izgradnju ne može da čita planove koji su joj potrebni

to build the machines that reduce stress.

da bi izgradila naprave koje smanjuju stres.

Zvuči složeno, ali to je ono što se dešava na mikro nivou.

That's a mouthful, but it's what's happening on the microscale.

On the macroscale, you practically lose the ability to deal with stress,

Na makro nivou, praktično gubite sposobnost da se nosite sa stresom,

and that's bad.

a to je loše.

And that's how DNA can remember what happens in the past.

Na taj način DNK može da zapamti šta se desilo u prošlosti.

This is what I think was happening to me

Ovo je ono što mislim da se dešavalo meni

when I first started my gender transition.

kad sam započela menjanje pola.

I knew I was a woman on the inside,

Znala sam da sam žena iznutra,

and I wore women's clothes on the outside,

i nosila sam žensku odeću spolja,

but everyone saw me as a man in a dress.

ali svi su me videli kao muškarca u haljini.

I felt like no matter how many things I try,

Osećala sam se kao da, bez obzira koliko stvari da pokušam,

no one would ever really see me as a woman.

niko me nikada neće zaista videti kao ženu.

In science, your credibility is everything,

U nauci, kredibilitet je sve,

and people were snickering in the hallways,

a ljudi su se kikotali u hodnicima,

giving me stares,

buljili u mene,

looks of disgust --

zgađenim pogledima,

afraid to be near me.

u strahu da budu oko mene.

I remember my first big talk after transition.

Sećam se mog prvog velikog govora posle promene.

It was in Italy.

Bilo je to u Italiji.

I'd given prestigious talks before,

Držala sam prestižne govore i ranije,

but this one, I was terrified.

ali za ovaj sam bila uplašena.

I looked out into the audience,

Gledala sam u publiku

and the whispers started --

i šapati su krenuli,

the stares,

zurenja,

the smirks, the chuckles.

podla smeškanja, cerekanja.

To this day, I still have social anxiety around my experience eight years ago.

I dan-danas sam nervozna među ljudima zbog iskustva od pre osam godina.

I lost hope.

Izgubila sam nadu.

Don't worry, I've had therapy so I'm OK --

Ne brinite.

Bila sam na terapiji, tako da sam okej, u redu sam sada.

I'm OK now.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

(Cheers)

(Ovacije)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

But I felt enough is enough:

Ali što je dosta, dosta je,

I'm a scientist,

naučnica sam,

I have a doctorate in astrophysics,

imam doktorat iz astrofizike,

objavljivala sam radove u najboljim časopisima,

I've published in the top journals,

in wave-particle interactions, space physics,

o interakciji između talasa i čestica, fizici svemira,

nucleic acid biochemistry.

biohemiji nukleinske kiseline.

I've actually been trained to get to the bottom of things, so --

Zapravo sam obučena da otkrijem stvari koje su sakrivene.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I went online --

Otišla sam na internet -

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

So I went online, and I found fascinating research papers.

Dakle, otišla sam na internet i našla sam fascinantan istraživački rad.

I learned that these DNA knot things are not always bad.

Naučila sam da ti čvorovi DNK nisu uvek loši.

Actually, the knotting and unknotting --

Zapravo, vezivanje i odvezivanje

it's like a complicated computer language.

je kao komplikovan programski jezik.

It programs our bodies with exquisite precision.

Programira naša tela sa neverovatnom preciznošću.

So when we get pregnant,

Kad zatrudnimo,

our fertilized eggs grow into newborn babies.

naša oplođena jaja prerastu u bebe.

This process requires thousands of DNA decisions to happen.

Ovaj proces zahteva hiljade odluka DNK da bi se desio.

Should an embryo cell become a blood cell?

Treba li ćelija embriona da postane ćelija krvi?

A heart cell? A brain cell?

Ćelija srca? Ćelija mozga?

And the decisions happen at different times during pregnancy.

A odluke se dešavaju u različitim trenucima tokom trudnoće.

Some in the first trimester, some in the second trimester

Neke u prvom tromesečju, neke u drugom tromesečju,

and some in the third trimester.

a neke u trećem tromesečju.

To truly understand DNA decision-making,

Da bismo stvarno razumeli kako DNK donosi odluke,

we need to see the process of knot formation in atomic detail.

moramo da vidimo proces formiranja čvorova na nivou atoma.

Even the most powerful microscopes can't see this.

Čak i najmoćniji mikroskopi to ne mogu da vide.

What if we tried to simulate these on a computer?

Šta ako bismo pokušali da to simuliramo na računaru?

For that we'd need a million computers to do that.

Za to bi nam trebalo milion računara.

That's exactly what we have at Los Alamos Labs --

To je tačno ono što imamo u laboratorijama u Los Alamosu,

a million computers connected in a giant warehouse.

milion računara povezanih u ogromnom skladištu.

So here we're showing the DNA making up an entire gene

Ovde pokazujemo kako DNK pravi čitave gene

folded into very specific shapes of knots.

sklopljenje u specifične oblike čvorova.

For the first time,

Po prvi put,

my team has simulated an entire gene of DNA --

moj tim je simulirao čitav gen DNK,

the largest biomolecular simulation performed to date.

što je najveća biomolekularna simulacija izvršena do današnjeg dana.

For the first time, we're beginning to understand the unsolved problem

Po prvi put počinjemo da razumemo nerešen problem

of how hormones trigger the formation of these knots.

kako hormoni aktiviraju formacije ovih čvorova.

DNA knot formation can be seen beautifully in calico cats.

Formacija čvorova DNK se može lepo videti kod mačaka kaliko.

The decision between orange and black

Odluka između narandžaste i crne

happens early on in the womb,

se dešava rano, u stomaku,

so that orange-and-black patchy pattern,

tako da su te narandžasto-crne šare

it's an exact readout of what happened

tačno isčitavanje onoga što se desilo

when that cat was just a tiny little kitten embryo

kad je ta mačka još bila sićušni mačiji embrion

inside her mom's womb.

unutar majčinog stomaka.

And the patchy pattern actually happens in our brains and in cancer.

A šabloni šara se zapravo dešavaju i u našim mozgovima i kod raka.

It's directly related to intellectual disability and breast cancer.

Direktno su u vezi sa intelektualnom invalidnošću i rakom dojke.

These DNA decisions also happen in other parts of the body.

Ove odluke DNK se takođe dešavaju i u drugim delovima tela.

It turns out that the precursor genitals transform into either female or male

Ispostavilo se da se preteča genitalija transformiše u ili ženske ili muške

during the first trimester of pregnancy.

tokom prvog tromesečja trudnoće.

The precursor brains, on the other hand,

Preteča mozga, s druge strane,

transform into female or male during the second trimester of pregnancy.

se transformiše u ženski ili muški tokom drugog tromesečja trudnoće.

So the current working model

Dakle, trenutni radni model

is that a unique mix in my mom's womb

je da je jedinstvena mešavina u stomaku moje majke

caused the precursor genitals to transform one way,

izazvala da se preteča genitalija tranformiše na jedan način,

but the precursor brain to transform the other way.

a da se preteča mozga transformiše na drugi način.

Most of epigenetic research

Većina epigenetskih istraživanja

has really focused on stress, anxiety, depression --

se zapravo fokusirala na stres, anksioznost i depresiju,

kind of a downer,

baš smor stvari,

kind of bad things.

na loše stvari.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But nowadays --

Ali danas -

the latest stuff --

najnoviji trendovi -

people are looking at relaxation.

ljudi ispituju relaksaciju.

Can that have a positive effect on your DNA?

Može li to imati pozitivan efekat na vaš DNK?

Right now we're missing key data from mice models.

Sada nam fale ključni podaci iz modela sa miševima.

We know that mice relax,

Znamo da se miševi opuštaju,

but could they meditate like the Dalai Lama?

ali da li bi mogli da meditiraju kao Dalaj Lama?

Achieve enlightenment?

Da dostignu prosvetljenje?

Could they move stones with their mind like Jedi Master Yoda?

Da li bi mogli da pomeraju kamenje svojim umom kao Džedaj master Joda?

(Yoda voice): Hm, a Jedi mouse must feel the force flow, hm.

(Jodin glas) Hm, miš Džedaj mora da oseti tok sile, hm.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

I wonder if the support I've had since that talk back in Italy

Pitam se da li je podrška koju sam imala nakon tog govora u Italiji

has tried to unwind my DNA.

pokušala da odmota moj DNK.

Having a great circle of friends, supportive parents

To što imam super krug prijatelja, roditelje koji me podržavaju,

and being in a loving relationship

i to što sam u vezi u kojoj ima puno ljubavi

has actually given me strength and hope to help others.

mi je zapravo dalo snage i nade da pomognem drugima.

At work I wear a rainbow bracelet.

Na poslu nosim narukvicu u duginim bojama.

Sometimes it raises eyebrows, but it also raises awareness.

Nekad se ljudi mršte, ali pored obrva se podiže i svesnost.

There's so many transgender people --

Postoji toliko transrodnih osoba,

especially women of color --

posebno žena druge boje kože,

that are just one demeaning comment away from taking their own lives.

koje samo jedan ponižavajući komentar deli od oduzimanja sopstvenog života.

Forty percent of us attempt suicide.

Nas 40% pokuša da počini samoubistvo.

If you're listening and you feel like you have no other option,

Ako slušate i ako se osećate kao da nemate drugu opciju,

try to call a friend,

probajte da pozovete prijatelja,

go online or try to get in a support group.

idite na internet, ili pokušajte da se uključite u neku grupu za podršku.

If you're a woman who's not transgender but you know pain of isolation,

Ako ste žena koja nije transrodna, ali poznat vam je bol izolacije,

of sexual assault --

seksualnog napada,

reach out.

potražite pomoć.

So what does it mean to be a woman?

Dakle, šta znači biti žena?

The latest research is showing

Najnovije istraživanje pokazuje

that female and male brains do develop differently in the womb,

da se ženski i muški mozak razvijaju drugačije u stomaku,

possibly giving us females this innate sense of being a woman.

verovatno dajući nama ženama urođen osećaj kako da budemo žena.

On the other hand,

Sa druge strane,

maybe it's our shared sense of commonality that makes us women.

možda je ono što nas čini ženama naš osećaj zajedništva.

We come in so many different shapes and sizes

Ima nas u toliko različitih oblika i veličina,

that asking what it means to be a woman may not be the right question.

da pitanje šta nas čini ženama možda nije dobro pitanje.

It's like asking a calico cat what it means to be a calico cat.

Kao da pitate mačku kaliko šta znači biti mačka kaliko.

Maybe becoming a woman means accepting ourselves

Možda postati žena znači prihvatanje sebe samih kakve jesmo

for who we really are

and acknowledging the same in each other.

i uvažavanje tog istog u drugima.

I see you.

Vidim vas.

And you've just seen me.

A vi ste upravo videli mene.

(Applause and cheers)

(Aplauz i ovacije)