New Cas Effectors Inject Fresh Talent Onto CRISPR StageNovember 12, 2015Poor Cas9. If CRISPR were a new music trend, Cas9 would the band that was playing CRISPR long before it was cool, rode the CRISPR wave to stardom, alienated its fans with copyright battles, and is already under threat from the new kids. Less metaphorically, Cas9 is an enzyme that uses RNA spacers (crRNAs) transcribed […]
Linking RNA Modifications and Stem Cell PluripotencyNovember 12, 2015Recent studies reported here at Epigenie have identified N6-methyladenosine (m6A) as a highly dynamic RNA modification that influences all aspects of RNA biology. Furthermore, an interesting study in mouse and human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) has indicated a role for N6-methyladenosine in the switch between ESC pluripotency and differentiation. Cool stuff indeed, but whate regulates N6-methyladenosine deposition […]
More Insights into Sperm Epigenomics: Histone Methylation Takes It Solo TransgenerationallyNovember 12, 2015While CpG methylation has received the seminal fame of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, it seems that other players in the epigenome are just as capable. Sperm miRNAs have taken the solo spotlight in highlighting the mechanisms and distinction between transgenerational inheritance and intergenerational effect, but now histone methylation steps up to the plate leading us to […]
Astrocyte microRNAs Welcome Metastatic Cancer Cells to the BrainNovember 12, 2015If asked what to bring on a fishing trip in winter, your answer probably wouldn’t be a bathing suit and sunblock. Likewise, when cancer cells metastasize, they need the right equipment to reside in unfamiliar organs; in other words, they must adapt their expression programs to accommodate their new microenvironment. How they do this is […]
CRISPR-Cas6 Translational ActivatorsOctober 30, 2015The CRISPR-Cas system, while originally hailing from the Domain of Bacteria, has made the biggest splashes by traveling abroad into the Kingdoms of Plantae and Animalia. There it has found great fame and fortune mostly as a tool for genome editing. Scientists back in the Bacterial Domain didn’t need CRISPR as much for gene editing, […]
