DNA Methylation and SNPs Interact to Shape Neurodevelopment and Schizophrenia RiskDecember 4, 2015While epigenetic marks drive traits on their own, their complex influence on phenotype can also be caught in an intimate tango with underlying sequence. One way to characterize this association is by studying DNA methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs), which are SNPs in the genome that influence DNA methylation. Previously, the Lab of Jonathan Mill […]
Enhancers Shape the Fetal Landscape of Dynamic Developmental DNA MethylationNovember 29, 2015Waddington’s epigenetic landscape is a classic metaphor for the role of epigenomics in development. In it, a cell becomes increasingly committed to a certain developmental trajectory as it acquires marks that poise it for later development. Massive efforts have been undertaken to chart this unexplored landscape and discover the buried treasures of development. Much has […]
CRISPR-Enhanced Enhancer MappingNovember 29, 2015Enhancers are hugely important regulatory regions of DNA that control gene expression. New techniques are telling us a lot about enhancer structure and function, but the study of enhancers could still use some enhancement. Enhancers are currently defined by what they look like (local DNA methylation, histone modifications, and chromatin availability) or by pulling them […]
Bisulfite FREEway Provides Route to the Lost Oxidized Derivatives of DNA MethylationNovember 16, 2015When navigating complex environments, it’s always handy to have a good map. Although the human epigenome project has been pretty good at mapping the complexities of 5-methyl cytosine (5mC), and more recently 5-hydroxymethylation (5hmC), other oxidative derivatives of 5hmC, 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC), have remained relatively uncharted terrain. Researchers from North Carolina and Active Motif […]
DNA Methylation Changes in Blood Predict Breast Cancer MetastasisOctober 22, 2015Mention the word ‘surveillance’, and the people around you are likely to feel uneasy. But methods to monitor and predict the development of cancer are essential to provide the correct treatment at the right time. Now researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona show that assessing changes to DNA methylation directly in blood […]
