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 […]
m6A Modification Protects Against Heat ShockNovember 13, 2015When exposed to high temperatures, cells behave much as we would on a hot summer’s day. Cell division, and most energy-consuming activities, come to a standstill (a bit like the human equivalent of lying perfectly still on a sunbed with a mojito in hand). Yet, despite the general repression of translation, genes encoding protective heat […]
CRISPR Takes the PERV Out of Pig OrgansNovember 13, 2015Nobody likes a PERV – they just make everyone uncomfortable. Porcine (pig) Endogenous RetroViruses (PERVs) are a creepy concern when it comes xenotransplantation (transplanting organs from a different species), since the perks of not having to wait for an organ transplant take a hit when PERVs get all up in your genome. In order to […]
Different Pluripotent Stem Cells Remain Functionally SimilarNovember 12, 2015Coke vs. Pepsi, Domino’s vs. Pizza Hut, Bud vs. Miller. Could you tell the difference them in a taste test, given that they are made in a slightly different way with slightly different starting materials? And in the end, if each option does the job they were designed to do (filling bellies!), will any slight […]
