DZNep Hints At New Wave Of Epigenetic Cancer TherapiesJune 15, 2009Although it may sound like the name of a DJ in a Vegas nightclub, DZNep is actually a histone methylation inhibitor, and has recently created some buzz when it was found to inhibit H3K27 and H4K20 methylation and reactivate silenced genes in cancer cells. Sensing the therapeutic possibilities, Peter Jones and his team at USC […]
DNA Methylation: Thinking Outside the Promoter to Determine LineageJune 9, 2009Promoters get all the glory when it comes to gene regulation. Sure, they’re important, but save a little love for enhancers—they may help cells decide what to be when they grow up! Historically, most methylation studies have focused on promoters, but instead of giving all the attention to these spotlight hogs, researchers at University Hospital […]
Curing Transposable Elements May Sicken Nearby Coding GenesJune 4, 2009As in many aspects of life, curing the genome of transposable elements (TEs) may be a trade-off. To stop TEs from bouncing all over the genome, cells often resort to small RNA-mediated methylation. But researchers at UC Irvine have discovered that silencing TEs that settle in close to coding regions can reduce the expression of […]
New Analysis Combos Reveal More Gene Body DNA MethylationApril 10, 2009Hey, sometimes more really is, well, more. Lately in the sequencing arena, we’ve heard a lot about some really slick advances in targeted sample enrichment and other ways to sequence less real estate in exchange for more coverage and better data. Such enrichment methods should be equally useful to epigenetics as they are in current […]
DNA Methylation, the NIH Epigenomics Program, and What’s Next in EpigeneticsApril 1, 2009Joseph Francis Costello received his Ph.D. at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois where he and his mentor, Dr. Russell Pieper discovered aberrant DNA methylation of the MGMT promoter in glioblastomas, which has since become the most widely used molecular marker to predict patient response to chemotherapy. In 1995, he became a postdoctoral fellow at the […]
Research Team Takes a Deep Dive into Chromosome 21 Promoter MethylationApril 1, 2009When it comes to knowledge about DNA methylation sites in the human genome, there’s no such thing as too much information. That’s why researchers in Germany have mapped DNA methylation sites on chromosome 21 in exquisite detail?with single base pair and single allele resolution. Their results are reported in the March 27, 2009 issue of […]
Inside the DNA Methylation-Chromatin TangoApril 1, 2009There has been a ton of interesting data on the relationship between DNA methylation, histone modifications, and transcriptional control in recent years. We love hearing about these advances at conferences, but die-hard chromatin biologists tend to rattle off histone modification combos that sound like a football quarterback about to take a snap “H3K27-trimethyl, K9, hike…,” […]
Promoter Targeted Small RNAs Lay a Big Smack Down on Gene Expression.March 31, 2009Sometimes to get the correct result, a researcher needs to knock a gene down. Not just a little knockdown, but like a Mike Tyson knockdown! (well, at least back in the days before the whole ear-biting thing.) Some clever scientists at The Scripps Research Institute may have found a way to do just that. By […]
RNAi Rescues DNA Methylation DefectsMarch 25, 2009Nowadays it seems like “interference” carries such negative connotations. RNAs aren’t really big meddlers. In fact, it’s RNAi that’s protecting genomes against the transgenerational loss of DNA methylation. A team of researchers in France and Spain has demonstrated that in Arabidopsis, the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery can remethylate target sequences that were hypomethylated by mutation […]
The PSA Debate and DNA Methylation BiomarkersMarch 25, 2009For many men, nothing can kick off a mid-life crisis quicker than a prostate exam. Middle-aged guys in sports cars everywhere dread reminders from their urologist for prostate checkups. Don’t even get us started on PSA’s infamous counterpart, the digital rectal exam. The prostate surface antigen (PSA) test was launched back in 1985 by Hybritech, […]
