CTCF Prevents Cancerous LandscapesMay 26, 2014This is the time of year to spruce up the garden, but a recent report has us thinking more about a DNA Methylation landscaper: CTCF. Epigenetic marks have long been associated with cancer and resarchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle) have shown that when the epigenetic groundskeepers (i.e. CTCF) are short handed, the epigenetic […]
lncRNAs Give a Shout Out to Imprinted GenesMay 22, 2014For a while there, it didn’t seem like long non-coding RNAS (lncRNAs) had very much to say on the subject of genomic imprinting. But some new evidence shows that lncRNAs have found their voice, shouting loud and clear as a cross-talk conduit between imprinted regions. Researchers from Hebrew University (Jerusalem) introduced a new concept into […]
DNA Methylation and Diet: A Lot to Chew OnMay 7, 2014Just in time for Mother’s Day, a new published report finds that a mother’s diet at the conception of her child causes life-long epigenetic differences in the metastable epialleles of the child with “permanent phenotypic consequences”. While it may seem that the “you are what you eat” card has been played to death to explain […]
Non-coding RNAs Reveal How Stress Can Be InheritedMay 7, 2014Stress hits every one of us, like when the Heartbleed virus makes you have to go back and reset all of your online passwords. Recent evidence has already linked the DNA methylation and histone alterations left behind by stressful events to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, but now, scientists from the Brain Research Institute in Switzerland have observed […]
Going ChIP-less Yields More Insights on Histone Code CombosApril 29, 2014When it comes to studying chromatin structure and histone modifications, a new technique proves that sometime less really is more, ChIP-less that is. Antibodies for individual histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) have long been the star of chromatin technology, but PTMs often act in concert to form a dynamic histone code whose combinations can interfere with antibodies attempting to bind […]
