Epigenetic Study Suggests that the Safety of Vaping is Running on FumesMarch 2, 2020With as many flavors as there are epigenetic modifications, vaping has arrived on the scene as a safer alternative to the smoking of cigarettes and a means to give up a rather unhealthy habit. However, the rise in vaping-related lung injuries and the “unforeseen” massive uptake of vaping by teenagers have prompted scientists to undertake […]
Inactive X Chromosomes SPENd Time Tucked Under the Epigenetic CoversFebruary 25, 2020When it’s the dead of winter, and the world outside is frozen solid, there’s no better place to be than under a mountain of warm blankets, like an inactivated X chromosome under a cloud of Xist long-noncoding RNA. Although we’ve known for a while that Xist is necessary for X chromosome inactivation (XCI), the mechanisms […]
SAXS Imaging Gets to the (Brave)heart of the Matter: First Full-Length Structure of a Long Non-Coding RNAFebruary 18, 2020It’s Valentine’s season, which means love is in the air, and heart-shaped novelties are abundant. But new research from the labs of Trushar Patel (University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) and Karissa Sanbonmatsu (Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA) has flipped the script: they are giving us the shape of Braveheart, a long non-coding RNA […]
Darwinian Selection Acts on DNA Methylation: Persistence of 5mC Without a De Novo MethyltransferaseFebruary 18, 2020Having trouble maintaining that New Year’s resolution to stay fit? Then you might want to ask a yeast for some advice: it turns out some of their evolutionary fitness is tied to maintaining DNA methylation with a methyltransferase for millions of years. DNA methylation is a common genomic modification, present in all life and prevalent […]
ATAC-Me: An Epigenetic One-Two Combo Hits the Mark at EnhancersFebruary 16, 2020There are many ways to “attack” a problem – head-on, from the side, with great care, or swiftly and suddenly, but as many a boxer may tell you, the classic one-two combo usually works a treat. Now, in a slugfest of a new study, a rambunctious rabble of ring-ready researchers recently hit the mark and […]