epigenetics

Epigenetics and ncRNA Headlines

Get all the latest highlights from the literature and special features covering trending epigenetics, ncRNA, and gene regulation research.

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Meet the Escape Artists of X-Chromosome Inactivation

April 22, 2021

While an escape from the zoo sounds newsworthy on its own, the addition of X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) makes it irresistible for our news crew. An exciting new epigenetic effort has captured the exceptional XCI escape artists across eutherian mammals. XCI is a dosage compensation mechanism in females that results in the inactivation of one of […]

Nu.Q Capture‑MS: The New New of Liquid Biopsy Detects Histone Modifications on Circulating Nucleosomes

April 20, 2021

With the rapid pace of liquid biopsy assay development, it can be a challenge to keep up with the latest and greatest early cancer detection methods. Although most methods are focused on assaying the association of cell-free DNA methylation profiles with cancer, a new method homes in on circulating nucleosomes and their histone post-translational modifications (PTMs). In order […]

Removing R-loops Regulates Repression: Revealing the Role of LSD1

April 19, 2021

Epigenetic regulatory cascades can be complex affairs…to say the least. Thankfully, a recent chromatin effector coregulator-based study now keeps us firmly in the loop by revealing how a histone demethylase induces gene repression by triggering a regulatory cascade that removes RNA:DNA hybrid structures known as R-loops! A talented team led by Philipp Rathert (University of […]

Methylation’s Moonlighting Mysteries: DNMT3L’s Divergent Roles in Down Syndrome

April 12, 2021

By daylight, DNA methyltransferase 3L (DNMT3L) takes on the modest role of a catalytically inactive but stimulatory binding partner for its more popular methyltransferase siblings (DNMT3A and DNMT3B). But, when the sun goes down, DNMT3L gives new meaning to protein moonlighting. DNMT3L is located on chromosome 21, which has made it a prime candidate for the Down syndrome […]

A “Batty” New Epigenetic Clock Provides Clues About Healthy Aging

April 8, 2021

Are you cuckoo for clocks, dotty for DNA methylation, and avid about aging? Well, a “batty” new study of epigenetic aging in certain long-lived winged mammals has just added to the zoo of clues about epigenetic age by providing a bat epigenetic clock. Specifically, an ardent team of researchers led by the levels heads of […]

From Single Molecules to Single Cells: NanoMethPhase and scMspJI-seq Upgrade DNA Methylation Mining Methods

April 2, 2021

Mining the DNA methylome can provide a treasure trove of biological insight, and two new whole-genome DNA methylation sequencing methods have come along to fuel a technological gold rush. NanoMethPhase and scMspJI-seq break new ground in phasing allele-specific methylation (ASM) and generating strand-specific single-cell methylomes. By applying these novel approaches, the talented teams dig deep into complex DNA […]

The Solution to Stop Stress Susceptibility: Spiny Neuron Histone H3K79me2 Modifications

March 29, 2021

Many of us dream of a quick fix to being so stressed all the time, and now that reality may not be so far off thanks to the identification of a histone modification behind the life-long effects of early-life stress (ELS). The nucleus accumbens is a brain region important for dopamine signaling and reward behavior. […]

Cancer-associated Histone Mutations Modulate Nucleosome Remodeling to Get That Histone Body Moving!

March 26, 2021

While any new study mentioning histones generally gets our epigenetic tails wagging, a stunning study into how cancer-associated histone mutations influence nucleosome remodeling has also got our “globular” bodies moving! Although most researchers focus on mutations in the histone tail, most high-frequency cancer-associated mutations actually affect the main “bodies” of the histone proteins (known as […]

AtacWorks: Deep Learning Levels Up ATAC-seq with Graphics Processing Units

March 19, 2021

It turns out that those graphics cards in our computers aren’t just great for gaming, they can also push your epigenomic research to the next level. When industry meets academia, we can all win and thanks to an exciting collaboration between the graphics processing unit (GPU) inventors at NVIDIA and the lab of ATAC-seq inventor […]

The Epitranscriptomic Results Are In: To Be Queen Bee, First Eat the Royal Jelly

March 19, 2021

It must be jelly, royal jelly. Giving new meaning to the adage “you are what you eat”, exciting epitranscriptomic findings have us buzzing about how diet influences larval development and royal status in honeybees. In a process known as caste differentiation, female honeybees fed different diets become either sterile workers or fertile queens. These bees […]