Trifecta of Epigenetic Methylation Reveals a Long-Term Profile of Fetal Alcohol ExposureMay 6, 2016During this time of the year, it’s easy to get caught up in landscaping. Regardless of whether your landscaping is of the epigenetic or garden variety, it seems that either way we can all benefit from the wisdom of the old saying, “can’t see the forest for the trees”. Sometimes we just get so caught […]
Liquid Biopsies Reveal More than Sequence: The Epigenomics of Circulating Cell-Free DNAMay 6, 2016Every good captain knows that when your ship is in distress, you send out an SOS. Now, two new papers now leave us wondering if that tactic is borrowed from diseased tissues. Many diseases are characterized by cell death that releases circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) into the blood stream, which can now be analyzed in […]
Genes, Age, and Sex: Meet the Masters of Your MethylomeApril 21, 2016What do age, sex, environment, and genomics have in common? Well, aside from taking your mind to the wrong place, they also interact to shape your methylome. There’s no denying that genome and epigenome share many intimate associations (cue dim lighting). We’ve seen that epigenetic modification can precede mutation in cancer and evolution. Then, of […]
“There is another” – N6-mA Described as a New Form of DNA MethylationApril 9, 2016In one of modern cinema’s greatest movies, Jedi Master Yoda proclaims “No…there is another…”. He was talking about the presumed existence of only one Jedi, much as many mammalian biologists speak about 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) as being the only type of DNA methylation. In a ground breaking new study, Andrew Z. Xiao (Yale School of Medicine, […]
Redefining Cancer and Stem Cell Reprogramming: Epigenetic Modulators, Modifiers, and MediatorsApril 9, 2016Back in 2006, Andrew Feinberg & Co. brought forth a review that pioneered the concept of tumor progenitor genes, which are genes involved in stem cell reprogramming and cancer. These tumor progenitor genes are epigenetically deregulated at the earliest stage of cancer. The epigenetic variation occurs before mutations, can be seen in normal tissue surrounding […]
Single-Molecule Imaging of 5hmC and 5mC Grabs the Bigger Picture with Less DNAApril 6, 2016We all know the old saying “Good things come in pairs”, and when you’re only examining one member of a dynamic duo, sometimes you can miss the key contribution of the trusty sidekick. Attesting to the above, a talented team from Stanford show off a clever new technique to simultaneously image 5mC and 5hmC on […]
Prenatal Exposure to Smoking is Associated with a Long-Term Mark on CpG MethylationApril 6, 2016Pregnancy is a sensitive period for a developing embryo/fetus where cues from the environment are incorporated into the epigenome where they can have long-term implications. While certain prenatal exposures, like alcohol and smoking, are well known to produce a number of negative health outcomes, they remain the largest cause of preventable birth defects and are […]
eBook: DNA Demethylation in DevelopmentMarch 19, 2016This ebook provides an introduction to the key cytosine base modifications: 5-methylcytosine, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC), and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC) that have been at the center of intense study in recent years. Inside, we’ve compiled numerous highlights that provide background on how these modifications function in DNA demethylation and also highlight the growing data that captures the role of demethylation […]
Manipulating DNA Methylation with dCas9-DNMT3AMarch 19, 2016Almost immediately after its inception as a biotechnological tool, CRIPSR/Cas9 showed that it was more than just a genome editor. Deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) is a precision RNA-guided DNA-binding domain with a growing range of effector domains that can be swapped out like LEGO. When it comes to epigenome editing with dCas9, histones have led the […]
Peeping in on Dynamic All-or-None Single-Cell Chromatin RepressionMarch 6, 2016Ever dream of knowing the single-cell details of chromatin regulators in real-time only to awake trapped in the static world of heterogenous cell populations? Well, dream no longer because thanks to the efforts of the Elowitz laboratory at Caltech researchers now have the ability to see just how some of our favorite epigenetic repressors (HDAC4, KRAB, DNMT3B […]
