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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The Mixed Messages of Bivalent Chromatin

June 14, 2016

Navigating the epigenetic landscape is no easy feat. Clear markings and smooth rides through its canals can quickly give way to a hectic hodgepodge of mixed signals and uncertain routes. A great example is bivalent chromatin, which contains marks of both activation and repression. Characterized by Bernstein et al. in 2006, the most studied bivalent […]

Promiscuous Bacteria Swap Epigenetics

May 20, 2016

Humans have good reasons to worry about our epigenetics. DNA decorations have big impacts on our gene expression and health, and we can inadvertently change them through such lifestyle choices as smoking, having parents, or getting old. We multicellular organisms can, at least, breathe easy that epigenetics aren’t contagious, but it turns out the same […]

Age, Sequence, and DNA Methylation are Culprits of Lactose Intolerance

May 20, 2016

While fine wine and aged cheese are culinary delights, some of us who dine on dairy often start to go a bit ‘sour’ with age and develop lactose intolerance. Thankfully, to aid our mental digestion of such a foul fate, a collaborative effort between Toronto and Lithuania has shown the molecular mechanism of why we can […]

On Demand Demethylation with dCas9-TET1

May 16, 2016

Every researcher loves a good tool, and lately, it seems that CRISPR might be an even more modular tool than PCR. Attesting to the modularity of CRISPR/Cas9 is catalytically deactivated Cas9 (dCas9). dCas9 has the precision of Cas9, when combined with sgRNA, and can be fused to a modular effector domain that allows for extra […]

Trifecta of Epigenetic Methylation Reveals a Long-Term Profile of Fetal Alcohol Exposure

May 6, 2016

During 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 DNA

May 6, 2016

Every 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 Methylome

April 21, 2016

What 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 […]

EZH2 Makes Distinguishing Aggressive Basal Cell Carcinoma Tumors EZer

April 21, 2016

When it comes to the epigenetics of cancer, there isn’t much that’s easy when trying to understand what makes a tumor; but now a talented team from the University of Michigan has just made understating it all that much EZer. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common cancer in people of Caucasian descent. Most […]

“There is another” – N6-mA Described as a New Form of DNA Methylation

April 9, 2016

In 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 Mediators

April 9, 2016

Back 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 […]