A Long non-coding RNA Superhero is GUARDIN our Genome from DNA Damage!April 4, 2018Batman swoops through Gotham, Supergirl flies over National City, and the Black Panther keeps his keen eyes on Wakanda; every superhero acts as a guardian of the beloved place they call home, protecting from any number of devious and dastardly threats. Now, researchers from the laboratory of Xu Dong Zhang and Mian Wu (Henan Provincial […]
Hemimethylated CpGs: Paradox or Paradigm?!March 28, 2018Science is full of paradoxes, and while we humble epigeneticists have yet to come across a cat that is both alive and dead, we have discovered a mysterious states of DNA methylation! For instance, some CpG sites can be both methylated and unmethylated at the same time, depending on which strand it is located on. […]
CRISPR Live-cell Imaging Captures CLINGing ChromosomesMarch 28, 2018An old teddy bear with an eye missing, a dog-eared children’s book, or a ragged musty-smelling blanket; we all “cling” on to certain treasured objects, although we usually wish to keep them secret from the world! However, this isn’t the case for researchers from the laboratory of John Rinn (Harvard University, Cambridge, USA), who have […]
Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance of a Trio of Epigenomic Changes Induced by DDTMarch 27, 2018DNA methylation has long been the shining star of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance work, with other mechanisms signing backup. But now, the solo act has now become a trio, with histone modifications and non-coding (ncRNA) stepping into the limelight. For an in utero exposure to be truly transgenerational, and not an intergenerational effect, it must impact […]
Embrace Your Age! Age-related H4K16ac Gains Protect Your Brain from Developing Alzheimer’s DiseaseMarch 19, 2018In our quest for the fountain of youth, we often find ourselves attracted to anything that will fight off the signs of aging. But now, the first genome-wide analysis of a specific histone modification in the brains of human patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) demonstrates that we should embrace the epigenetic changes that come […]
