Chromatin Domain Boundary Issues Turn Short Tandem Repeats PathogenicSeptember 11, 2018Boundary issues between countries can start wars, while boundary issues between people cause personal space problems; but can boundary issues between repetitive loci lead to the development of human disorders? The pathogenesis of the disorders in question, which include fragile X syndrome (FXS), Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Friedreich’s ataxia, involves the unstable expansion […]
To Bee or Not to Bee Queen: The Role of Chromatin Structure in Honey Bee Caste DeterminationSeptember 2, 2018We’d all like to be queen for a day, but most of us weren’t born into royalty. In the honey bee world, your queen status is also determined pretty early on—only 96 hours after hatching. New research has uncovered more epigenetic modifications that determine who gets to be queen bee. And who better to study […]
What’s Your ChIP Sign? – Selecting the Right ChIP KitAugust 20, 2018The crew at Active Motif has been in the Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) game for quite a while now, and their clever R&D team cranks out an assortment of kits to meet the needs of all sorts of ChIP users out there. With seemingly as many ChIP choices available as there are signs of the Zodiac, […]
All-Access Pass: Mouse Chromatin Accessibility at the Single Cell LevelAugust 14, 2018An “all-access” pass to a concert might get you behind the scenes with the band, but as a scientist wouldn’t you rather go behind the scenes in a cell, and get the inside scoop on the regulation of gene expression? (No? Just us?) Fortunately, new research from the labs of Cole Trapnell and Jay Shendure […]
Multi-Contact 4C (MC-4C): Nanopore Sequencing Captures Multi-Way Chromosome Conformations of Single-AllelesAugust 7, 2018While chromosomes have been captured in promiscuous situations before, a tiny spying device of the genomic variety has captured chromosomes in some of their most intimate conformations. By applying Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION portable sequencer to the study of chromosome contacts, the labs of Wouter de Laat and Jeroen de Ridder at Utrecht University […]
Epigenetic Teamwork Makes the Stem Cell Dream Work!July 30, 2018Many years before the beginning of the Common Era, the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle first exclaimed that the “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”. Now, collaborative research led by Wei Li and Margaret A. Goodell (Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, USA) that sought to describe the interplay of epigenetic modifiers […]
Drop-by-Drop Cell Fate Control by Transcriptional CondensatesJuly 22, 2018Little-by-little, step-by-step, and drop-by-drop, we are beginning to appreciate the vital importance of intracellular liquid-like droplet formation to fundamental mechanisms such as epigenetic inheritance and heterochromatin domain formation. Liquid-like droplets aid these processes by biological “phase-separation” or the selective concentration of some molecules into a small intracellular area and the exclusion of others. Excitingly, two new […]
Flipping the EpiSwitch on Chromosome Conformation as a Diagnostic Tool for ALSJuly 17, 2018Looking to get switched on to new uses of epigenetics in the clinic? Check out EpiSwitch™, a platform for developing chromatin conformation diagnostics. One of the biggest challenges in genetic medicine is disease heterogeneity, both in terms of getting a diagnosis and determining the best treatment course. Often, genetic changes can only account for a […]
Sorry Guys, Higher Placental H3K27me3 Levels Protect Female Brains from Prenatal StressJuly 15, 2018While self-help books may suggest that women are from Mars and men are from Venus, exciting new findings demonstrate that the study of epigenetic modifications offers an astronomically better explanation for the differences between males and females. Inspired by research indicating that males suffer from greater vulnerability to prenatal stress and certain psychiatric conditions, the […]
A microRNA and Histone Methylation Cascade Links TGF-β Signaling to Senescence and AgingJuly 10, 2018While knowing the start- and end-points of a journey is all well and fine, without studying the route taken, we may miss some exciting opportunities; a drink in an enchanting country pub, a picturesque stroll by the shores of a beautiful lake, or as a recent study has demonstrated, a potential treatment for aging? Let’s […]
