It may sound like a term straight out of a science fiction program such as Star Trek, but liquid-liquid “phase separation” is actually one of the hot new topics in epigenetics. Phase separation of proteins with certain characteristics leads to the formation of biomolecular liquid “droplets” that concentrate the levels of some proteins/factors while excluding […]
- Chromatin
Not Aging Gracefully? Two Epigenetic Regulators May be to Blame
In the last 50 years, there has been a ~20% increase in global life expectancy but interestingly, there has not been a corresponding increase in the number of healthy years lived. Lubin Jiang and Shi-Qing Cai at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China) sought to understand that disparity by examining the genetic factors involved […]
ChromID Helps Us Understand How Epigenetic Pots Find Their Protein Lids
The old saying “every pot will find its lid” suggests that a match exists for everyone looking for love, you just have to get out there and find your perfect partner! Online-dating may help scientists to find their significant other from the bench side; however, current laboratory approaches for the identification of protein-binding partners for […]
EpiGenie Guide: Chromatin Shearing
ChIP-Seq has transformed the field of epigenetics, providing unprecedented resolution and coverage for surveying protein- DNA interactions. Powerful, high-throughput sequencing is credited with most of the benefits, but there’s a lot more that goes into ChIP-Seq than sequencing. Chromatin shearing is one of the first critical steps in the ChIP-Seq workflow. Depending on your approach, […]
Epigenetic Study Suggests that the Safety of Vaping is Running on Fumes
With 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 […]