Self Service Transcription Lane Now Open for miRNAs
February 2nd, 2010. Many retailers have opened up self-service checkout lanes lately, which are great for those customers with just a few items, or don’t want to get stuck behind the old couple who still pays with paper checks. According to a recent report, when it comes to transcription, at least some miRNAs might have the option to use a similar, Self-Service Transcription shortcut.
Conference Highlights: Keystone Symposia RNA Silencing Application
February 2nd, 2010. The snow may have been light, but there was a blizzard of non-coding RNA wisdom dumping throughout last month’s Keystone RNA Silencing January 14th-19th. EpiGenie guest correspondent, David Cummins made the trip up from Australia, where he’s a postdoc working with RNAi technologies at the CSIRO. In an effort to avoid any carpal tunnel related lawsuits, we had David cover just a few of the talks so check out the highlighted action.
Et Tu, Methyl Group? Epigenetic Betrayal of NSD1
February 1st, 2010. Sometimes your best friend can become your worst enemy. Take the case of the methyl group and the histone methyltransferase enzyme NSD1: The methyl is NSD1’s little buddy through countless histone methyltransferase reactions, when suddenly the backstabbing little –CH3 teams up with a DNA methyltransferase to silence NSD1 expression. This tale of intrigue was told in a recent PNAS paper.
Methylation Puts Nucleosomes in the Hot Seat
February 1st, 2010. It’s no fun to get put in the “hot seat”. Whether it’s your advisor ragging on you for not having enough data; or your sweetie reminding you that you forgot your anniversary. Again. In either case, you sink lower and lower into your chair, and your muscles tighten while you take what you have coming. Researchers say that the same thing happens when methyl groups are hooked onto DNA, creating nucleosomes that get smaller and less flexible.
In Evolution, Change Is the Only (Epigenetic) Constant
February 1st, 2010. Most of us are thrown for a loop when conditions suddenly change, but some are better able to cope than others (we still haven’t gotten used to the new Facebook format). A recent PNAS paper by Johns Hopkins’ epi-gurus Andrew Feinberg and Rafael Irizarry makes the case that some of this adaptability stems from stochastic epigenetic variations.
