If You Like Piña Coladas, and tRNAs: Unique Relationships Between tRFs and mRNAsMay 6, 2019It can be tough to find a significant other that checks all the boxes: smart, funny, and into epigenetics. But if you think your relationship is tough to figure out, just wait until you see the relationship between tRNA derived fragments and mRNAs. New research from the lab of Isidore Rigoutsos (Thomas Jefferson University, USA) […]
Astronomical Findings from the NASA Twin Study on the Effects of Space FlightMay 6, 2019Identical twins are known for having some pretty out of this world similarities. Picking the same clothes, feeling the other’s pain, and often going into the same careers. The latter is true for Mark and Scott Kelly, monozygotic twins who also both happen to have been trained as astronauts. Twins are a favorite model system […]
Members of the PIWI League Play Important Positions in the BrainMay 3, 2019It takes a special kind of small RNA to try out for the PIWI team. PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNA) are small, have and adenine at their 10th position, an uracil at their 5’ end, and 2’-O-methylation at their 3’ end. This unique physique helps piRNA work with PIWI proteins to defend the germline against an aggressive transposon offense, but […]
New Epigenetic Clock Offers an Evolutionary Conserved View of Aging Through Ribosomal DNA MethylationApril 27, 2019With updates and novel iterations to the “epigenetic clock” occurring at a pace faster than our smartwatches, it’s about time a new player emerged in the world of epigenetic clocks. Not only can these specialist timepieces keep track of our chronological age, but they can also tell us how environmental factors affect the pace of […]
Giving Identity to the Masses: Antisense lncRNA Transcription Facilitates DNA Demethylation to Determine Promoter ChoiceApril 21, 2019As modern technology develops, we grow increasingly connected with one another while also striving to maintain our individual identities. Although some may blame social media for our desire to be unique snowflakes just like everyone else, exciting new research demonstrates a molecular mechanism for individual neuronal identity in the brain that may just be the […]
