DNA Methylation: The Original Anti-Virus ProgramJanuary 8, 2014Security and anti-virus software is a must-have accessory for the internet age, but it turns out that DNA methylation has been protecting us all from retroviral infections for quite a bit longer than any computer program. A talented research team lead by Richard Meehan from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) applied HELP-seq analysis and DNA methylation […]
Tet Finally Gets Caught in the DNA Demethylation ActJanuary 8, 2014If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then X-ray crystallography is more like a Game of Thrones novel. The same technology that gave us the double helix structure of DNA way back in the groovy days of genetics has now captured images of Tet doing its demethylation dance with DNA in Naegleria. Xiaodong Cheng and […]
Decrypting Transcription with Dr. Frank GrosveldJanuary 7, 2014Dr. Frank Grosveld points out how little we actually know about the details of transcription and the molecular machinery involved. Transcription Factories We have this loop structure of the genome. And at the same time, we know that every gene that’s being transcribed, that’s active, is part of what we call transcription factories. So […]
Decitabine Scores a Cancer Therapy ‘Hat Trick’January 7, 2014The cancer treatment field scored a nice win to kick off 2014. Past studies have hinted that epigenome modifying drugs show great potential in the clinic, but new findings from Kunle Odunsi and team at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York has demonstrated that a combinatorial approach using Decitabine (a DNA ‘demethylater’) and […]
Chromatin Interaction Analysis is All About TimingJanuary 3, 2014Formaldehyde treatment is a popular way to cross-link proteins and DNA during Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP), an assay that has been widely used to characterize protein-DNA interactions. Now, a team from University of Virginia Health System has enhanced this time-tested formaldehyde fixation approach to understand how fast/slow proteins bind to DNA and the stability of chromatin […]
