CRISPR-Enhanced Enhancer MappingNovember 29, 2015Enhancers are hugely important regulatory regions of DNA that control gene expression. Â New techniques are telling us a lot about enhancer structure and function, but the study of enhancers could still use some enhancement. Â Enhancers are currently defined by what they look like (local DNA methylation, histone modifications, and chromatin availability) or by pulling them […]
Bisulfite FREEway Provides Route to the Lost Oxidized Derivatives of DNA MethylationNovember 16, 2015When navigating complex environments, it’s always handy to have a good map. Although the human epigenome project has been pretty good at mapping the complexities of 5-methyl cytosine (5mC), and more recently 5-hydroxymethylation (5hmC), other oxidative derivatives of 5hmC, 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC), have remained relatively uncharted terrain. Researchers from North Carolina and Active Motif […]
m6A Modification Protects Against Heat ShockNovember 13, 2015When exposed to high temperatures, cells behave much as we would on a hot summer’s day. Cell division, and most energy-consuming activities, come to a standstill (a bit like the human equivalent of lying perfectly still on a sunbed with a mojito in hand). Yet, despite the general repression of translation, genes encoding protective heat […]
CRISPR Takes the PERV Out of Pig OrgansNovember 13, 2015Nobody likes a PERV – they just make everyone uncomfortable. Porcine (pig) Endogenous RetroViruses (PERVs) are a creepy concern when it comes xenotransplantation (transplanting organs from a different species), since the perks of not having to wait for an organ transplant take a hit when PERVs get all up in your genome. In order to […]
Different Pluripotent Stem Cells Remain Functionally SimilarNovember 12, 2015Coke vs. Pepsi, Domino’s vs. Pizza Hut, Bud vs. Miller. Could you tell the difference them in a taste test, given that they are made in a slightly different way with slightly different starting materials? And in the end, if each option does the job they were designed to do (filling bellies!), will any slight […]