No Epigenetic Modification is an Island: How Reader Proteins Functionally Interpret Complex Chromatin StatesMarch 25, 2024Like no man is an island and instead relies on those surrounding them, single epigenetic modifications generally do not function in solitary. Now, an absorbing new study from a synergistic epigenomics squad reports how epigenetic reader proteins functionally interpret chromatin states made up of complex combinations of disparate epigenetic modifications. A highly collaborative team guided […]
Gut Microbiota Uses the Histone Code to Make Intestinal Cells Speak Their LanguageMarch 19, 2024A growling stomach represents a clear sign that you must eat something tasty; however, sometimes, your digestive system is where the message needs to go! An exciting epigenetics study reveals that our gut microbiota employs a histone code via histone acylations to influence gene expression in intestinal cells, forcing these cells to speak their language! […]
reChIP Doubles Down on Low-input Profiling of Bivalent ChromatinMarch 5, 2024Sometimes, when you’re dealt the right hand, doubling down is a sound strategy. Although it can be a risky move in blackjack, a new ChIP-seq method makes it a sure thing when you’re dealing with bivalent chromatin. The strategy, which includes important preparation steps and two rounds of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), provides sensitive genome-wide profiles […]
FORGEdb Deciphers Genetic Variants and Disease Mechanisms to Tell Whether Your Gene Regulation Mechanism is a Touchdown or a Field Goal!February 26, 2024Performing experiments to understand gene regulation and do not want to miss any extra points? Well, FORGEdb may be the method for you! Building on previous research, this new method can help scientists unravel the mysteries behind complex diseases by identifying candidate functional variants and uncovering target genes and mechanisms. Developed by a team led […]
Making a Connection – Lactate Epigenetically Links Metabolism and Gene ExpressionFebruary 19, 2024Falling in love, kicking a football, and cell identity changes driven by metabolic reprogramming all have one thing in common – making a connection is vitally important! Now, a well-hooked-up new study reveals how lactate epigenetically links metabolism to the activation of a gene regulatory network that controls embryonic development. A plugged-in team of researchers […]
TIME-Seq Flies When Constructing Cost-Effective Epigenetic ClocksFebruary 19, 2024If time drags and money disappears when looking at DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks, you are “in time” to hear of a newly described efficient and cost-effective bisulfite sequencing approach! Time flies – but money does not – with “tagmentation-based indexing for methylation sequencing” or TIME-seq! An on-time team led by David A. Sinclair (Harvard Medical […]
Bilingual Proteins Establish and Maintain Heritable Silent Chromatin DomainsFebruary 5, 2024Whether you learn through hitting the books or traveling the globe – speaking two languages has many advantages. Now, a study into the basis of gene expression regulation reports how bilingual “read-write” proteins that “speak” two epigenetic languages can help us to learn about the complex mechanisms controlling sequence-independent heritable gene silencing. The dynamic duo […]
XIST’s X-istential Crisis: A New Role in Autosomal Gene RegulationJanuary 22, 2024The long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) XIST functions as an epigenetic silencer tightly linked to the X chromosome to balance gene expression between the sexes; however, this lncRNA now has a cause for concern as an autosomal gene regulatory function just pushed XIST into a full-blown “X-istential” crisis! Reports have described a dispersed XIST configuration in […]
uCoTarget Is a Single-Cell Multiomics Method for Multiple Histone ModificationsJanuary 17, 2024Everyone loves a bargain, and a new method called CoTarget really delivers. It’s a method that delivers single-cell multiomics data on multiple histone modifications and transcription factors, as well as the transcriptome. It can easily scale up to analyze a million single cells, and unlike similar methods, it doesn’t require microfluidic devices or special transposon […]
The Brain Cell Census: A Deeper Epigenomic Understanding of the Mammalian MainframeNovember 13, 2023If you have epigenetics on the brain like us, concentrate your mammalian mainframe on the recently published marvels on the brain’s epigenome from the NIH’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative – Cell Census Network (BICCN). Recent work brought together under the guise of the Brain Cell Census now reports on the examination […]