How the Journey Towards Sperm Maturation Can Leave Offspring Stressed Out!April 23, 2020Queues! Security! Lost passports! While many will be currently reminiscing about the fun and frolics enjoyed during old holidays to far-flung exotic destinations, we generally choose to forget the enduring stress of the outward journey. However, a fascinating new study now provides evidence that any stress endured by maturing sperm during their epic voyage is […]
Dop(Ey)mine: The Seventh Dwarf Of Histone Modifications Makes A Big Impact In The BrainApril 19, 2020Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the newest histone modification of all? We know that methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, ubiquination, and even citrullination have been toiling away in the chromatin mines, but a new study from the brainy team who discovered serotonylation suggests that dopamine is also hard at work on histone tails, where it highlights […]
PRC2 Complex Genetic Variants Leave a DNA Methylation Signature in Overgrowth SyndromeApril 13, 2020While epigenetic modifications can leave their signatures on our genome, our genome can also leave its signature on our epigenomes. Genetic variants in epigenetic regulatory genes often cause disorders characterized by abnormal growth and intellectual disability. The Polycomb repressive complex-2 (PRC2) complex is a core regulator of chromatin structure through methylation of H3K27. EZH2, EED, […]
Micro-C and Single-Cell Hi-C Provide Macro Chromosome Conformation InsightsApril 11, 2020Genome-wide chromosome conformation capture analyses, such as Hi-C, have provided us with snapshots of the large-scale spatial architecture of mammalian genomes, describing chromatin compartments, topologically associating domains (TADs), and CTCF– and cohesin-mediated chromatin loops in many cell types. However, the resolution of Hi-C-based protocols, limited by the size and uniformity of chromatin fragmentation, represents a […]
Tet3 Acts Against Anxiety in Forebrain NeuronsMarch 27, 2020While there are a lot of reasons to anxious these days, thankfully our neurons are using epigenetics to respond and adapt to the barrage of new information in our environment. In fact, DNA cytosine hydroxymethylation (5hmC) might be necessary to keep cognition in check, and a new research suggests that one of the enzymes that […]