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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Hit-and-Run Epigenetic Editing Helps Breast Cells Evade Cycle Arrest

December 11, 2017

While 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 Longevity

November 22, 2017

While 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 Development

November 12, 2017

During 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 […]

High-Resolution Hi-C Delivers High-End Chromatin Conformation Maps of Neural Development

November 2, 2017

Hi-C-based three-dimensional chromatin conformation analysis is currently living the high-life, with multiple high-impact studies recently employing this high-flying molecular technique to gain new insight into the cell cycle, fertilization, and reprogramming. Now, researchers under the high command of Boyan Bonev and Giacomo Cavalli (Université de Montpellier, France) have applied this high-class technique to understand how […]

Your Brain on Stress: The Role of Dynamic DNA 6mA Modification

October 30, 2017

Stress 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 Autism

October 24, 2017

Networking 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 […]

The Hi’s and Lo’s of Cohesin’s Crafty Chromatin Concerto

October 18, 2017

While solos are the key to some of your favorite tunes, a masterpiece as magnificent as chromatin conformation is hardly the work of a one-man band; instead, it takes an orchestra of histone modifications to complement and counterpoint cohesin´s sonorific solos. Now, a duet from the labs of Francois Spitz (Pasteur Institute, France) and Leonid […]

dCas9-SunTag-DNMT3A Causes a Total Methylation Eclipse

September 26, 2017

While 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 Prospectors

September 25, 2017

On 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, 2017

With 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 […]