TET Proteins: Defending Differentiation by denying de novo Methylation!December 13, 2017I don´t overeat! I’m not lazy! I’m not eating the agar plates when I´m working in the lab late, honest! Psychologists consider denial as one of our most primitive defense mechanisms and recent studies of epigenetic defense mechanisms in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) by the labs of Olivier Elemento (Weill Cornell Medical College) and Danwei […]
Hit-and-Run Epigenetic Editing Helps Breast Cells Evade Cycle ArrestDecember 11, 2017While a hit-and-run typically leads to an arrest, in the world of epigenetic editing it turns out to be the key to evading cell cycle arrest (senescence) and promoting the transformation of a law-abiding cell into a cancerous criminal! The hypermethylation of promoters at the wrong time and wrong place is a trademark of cancer, […]
One-Carbon, One Long Life: Methyl Donors Linked to LongevityNovember 22, 2017While manipulating DNA methylation has taken up most of our lifespans, the manipulation of methyl donors critical to this process may just be the key to making up for the lost time. During one-carbon metabolism, the essential amino acid methionine is metabolized into S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), a methyl donor responsible for DNA and histone methylation. Donation of […]
An endosiRNA Trap Shoots Down the Transposable Element Rebellion of Embryonic DevelopmentNovember 12, 2017During early embryonic development, our genome lets down its DNA methylation defenses and becomes vulnerable to rebellious transposable elements (TEs). However, those rebel scum are quickly met with a barrage of endogenous short interfering RNAs (endosiRNAs), all before they realize even realize that “It’s A Trap!” The mechanism of this cunning tactic employed by our […]
Your Brain on Stress: The Role of Dynamic DNA 6mA ModificationOctober 30, 2017Stress has a way of getting under our skin, where it can sink in so deep that it modifies our brain’s DNA. While it can alter DNA cytosine modifications, such as 5-methylcytosine (5mC), a new role for the N6-methyladenine (6mA) modification in stress response has now emerged. DNA 6mA has recently made the grade as […]
UBE3A Networks with Other Imprinted Genes to Shape Neurodevelopment and AutismOctober 24, 2017Networking shapes our brains in many ways; whether it be in a professional, social, or genomically imprinted fashion. Linking us into the latter, new findings from the lab of Janine LaSalle at the University of California, Davis, uncover a hub in an imprinted gene network critical to neurodevelopment. The imprinted 15q11-q13 locus is involved in […]
Neuron-specific Methylome Analysis Reveals BRCA1 as a New Pathogenic Contributor to Alzheimer’s DiseaseOctober 23, 2017Whether it is for the billing of a new film, the release of an album, or in the understanding of the pathogenesis of a disease, figuring out who the contributors are and what role they play represents an important first step. In the case of the sporadic neurodegenerative disorder Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), we know that […]
dCas9-SunTag-DNMT3A Causes a Total Methylation EclipseSeptember 26, 2017While it’s never a great idea to stare directly into the sun, a DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) eclipse brought to you by the SunTag system may just steal your eyes during its totality. This designer epigenome editing system comes to you from the labs of Margaret A. Goodell and Wei Li at Baylor College of Medicine […]
xQTLs Provide Xtra Epigenetic Treasure for GWAS ProspectorsSeptember 25, 2017On any good pirate map, ‘X’ marks the spot for buried treasure. It turns out the same is true in epigenetics: xQTL analysis marks the spot for buried GWAS associations. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been instrumental in identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with human disease. However, finding the biological relevance of such SNPs […]
Caloric Restriction: The Fountain of (Epigenetic) Youth?September 25, 2017With age comes wisdom, and also a changing methylation landscape. These changes in methylation can predict life expectancy, with a subset referred to as the ‘epigenetic clock’. For those of us looking to add more time, caloric restriction has been shown to increase life expectancy and reduce the incidence of age-related diseases. Despite three decades […]
