Sea Snails Thank RNA-induced DNA Methylation for the Long-term Memories!May 16, 2018Forget everything you know about memories (!) because a new study has turned our knowledge regarding memory formation on its head by showing the ability to transfer memories from animal-to-animal! Current dogma states that learning-induced modifications of synaptic connections underlie the storage of our long-term memory (LTM); however, recent studies have suggested that neuron cell […]
Snord116 Keeps DNA Methylation’s Circadian Rhythm Ticking in the BrainMay 10, 2018Sunrise, Sunset. The tempo of a day can quickly pass us by while filling our brain with all epigenetics has to offer. But whether our brains are aware of it or not, with each sunrise and sunset comes a rhythmic genome-wide DNA methylation profile. To gain insight into exactly what makes our brain’s rhythmically tick, […]
Two Barcodes, One DNA Fragment: Budget-Friendly Single-Cell Whole-Genome Bisulfite SequencingApril 29, 2018While single-cell whole-genome bisulfite sequencing is rapidly evolving, the associated price tag hasn’t been quite as dynamic. This lack of dynamism is primarily because current single-cell whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (scWGBS) methods are limited by the need to process each cell in individual reaction vessels and also low alignment rates. These limitations mean a high (financial) […]
Transposons and DNA Methylation Learn to Get AlongApril 26, 2018A lot of things just don’t mix well, dogs and cats, oil and water, and as most geneticists would agree, transposons and DNA methylation. DNA methylation is the mortal enemy of transposon activity; across the tree of life it has a conserved role silencing transposable elements from plants, to algae, to vertebrates. This suggests DNA […]
dmrseq Powers-Up Whole-Genome Bisulfite Sequencing AnalysisApril 16, 2018In our modern world, power is everything. Whether it be political, social, or even statistical, humankind always thirsts for more. While political and social power may be a little beyond our scope, a new bioinformatic package has come forth to power up your ability to detect differentially methylated regions (DMRs) from whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) […]