Running Around in Circles to Understand N6-methyladenosine (m6A)September 10, 2017While most studies on the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA modification have been on the straight and narrow, the research trajectory taken by the labs of Cosmas C. Giallourakis and Alan C. Mullen will have you running around in circles! More specifically, Chan Zhou and Benoit Molinie (along with their tight circle of friends) sought to discover […]
LINE-1 Retrotransposons Keep Early Embryonic Chromatin in LineSeptember 10, 2017While cocktails and embryonic development usually don’t mix well, a cocktail of three transcription-activator-like effectors (TALEs) has just shaken up our understanding of the role LINE-1 retrotransposons during early embryonic development. LINE-1 activation had been considered a consequence of developmental processes, but now a talented team from the lab of Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla at the German […]
Targeted and Reversible Chromatin Conformations Crafted by CLOuD9August 27, 2017Imagine a world where you could create chromatin loops where and when you want. You’d feel like you’re on cloud nine. Well, get your head out of the clouds, because you’ve got to thank the lab of Kevin Wang at Stanford for targeted and reversible chromatin loop reorganization using deactivated Cas9 (CLOuD9). The CLOuD9 system […]
Single-Nuclei Neuronal Methylomes Single in on New Brain Cell SubtypesAugust 20, 2017Every population has its own unique identity, and behind that is our brain, an organ composed of cellular populations with their own unique DNA methylation identities. However, capturing the true diversity of a population requires the ability to observe each individual in that group and for methylomes that requires innovations in single-cell bisulfite sequencing. In […]
Running in Circles: circRNAs Act as Shuttles for miRNA CargoAugust 15, 2017Feeling out of the loop about all the different non-coding RNAs being described? Well hold on, because circular RNAs (circRNA) are about to throw you for a loop. Mammalian circRNAs are created by covalent closure of transcribed exons into loops. These circRNAs are highly expressed in specific brain regions, and conserved between mice and humans. They […]