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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Viva in vivo Gene Editing: A Roundup of the Latest CRISPR Hits

January 28, 2016

Gene editing with CRISPR/Cas9 is here, there, and everywhere. We have seen gene editing in human somatic cells, pluripotent stem cells, and even embryos. However, we should also be looking at CRISPR-based gene editing somewhere else: in a living, breathing human. The question is – where does the current technology stand on the in vivo […]

Casilio: a CRISPR/Cas9 and Pumilio Hybrid for Epigenome Editing

January 24, 2016

Life is full of challenges, and when that challenge is epigenome editing even a rock star like CRISPR/Cas9 stands to benefit from helping a hand. Epigenome editing with CRISPR/Cas9 involves using a dead Cas9 (dCas9) that confers the precision of the genome editing system without nuclease activity. The standard approach involves utilizing a fusion protein […]

tRNA Fragments Beat DNA Methylation in the Game of Paternal Intergenerational Epigenetic Inheritance

January 9, 2016

The fact that parental diet affects the metabolism of offspring goes to show that inheritance can be shaped by environmental factors. While early studies focused on mom’s contribution, we’re now starting to see the importance of paternal contribution for shaping an offspring’s epigenome. For the past 15 years, the lab of Oliver Rando at the […]

Stress Accelerates Epigenetic Ageing

December 18, 2015

The epigenetic clock has developed faster than the iWatch: it can predict biological age from select CpGs, which when compared with chronological age, gives a metric known as Δ-age. The greater the difference, the greater the acceleration of epigenetic age, which indicates variation in the rate of senescence between people. To understand this variation and […]

A TAD Closer to Understanding 3D Chromatin Structure

December 15, 2015

Interview with Dr. Jennifer Phillips-Cremins at Keystone Symposia’s Precision Genome Engineering and Synthetic Biology. My lab is really focused on understanding the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate early brain development. And the, sort of traditional way of studying epigenetic marks, is to zoom in and really focus on a particular modification at a precise location in […]

m6A Modification Protects Against Heat Shock

November 13, 2015

When exposed to high temperatures, cells behave much as we would on a hot summer’s day. Cell division, and most energy-consuming activities, come to a standstill (a bit like the human equivalent of lying perfectly still on a sunbed with a mojito in hand). Yet, despite the general repression of translation, genes encoding protective heat […]

Linking RNA Modifications and Stem Cell Pluripotency

November 12, 2015

Recent studies reported here at Epigenie have identified N6-methyladenosine (m6A) as a highly dynamic RNA modification that influences all aspects of RNA biology. Furthermore, an interesting study in mouse and human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) has indicated a role for N6-methyladenosine in the switch between ESC pluripotency and differentiation. Cool stuff indeed, but whate regulates N6-methyladenosine deposition […]

More Insights into Sperm Epigenomics: Histone Methylation Takes It Solo Transgenerationally

November 12, 2015

While CpG methylation has received the seminal fame of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, it seems that other players in the epigenome are just as capable. Sperm miRNAs have taken the solo spotlight in highlighting the mechanisms and distinction between transgenerational inheritance and intergenerational effect, but now histone methylation steps up to the plate leading us to […]

Astrocyte microRNAs Welcome Metastatic Cancer Cells to the Brain

November 12, 2015

If asked what to bring on a fishing trip in winter, your answer probably wouldn’t be a bathing suit and sunblock. Likewise, when cancer cells metastasize, they need the right equipment to reside in unfamiliar organs; in other words, they must adapt their expression programs to accommodate their new microenvironment. How they do this is […]

Sperm miRNA Drives Intergenerational Stress Response

October 30, 2015

Stress is something that we’re all too familiar with, but its impact across generations has remained controversial. The distinction between intergenerational effect and transgenerational inheritance is particularly important to understand the differences between a direct effect on exposed gametes or indirect transmission to unexposed gametes. However, the molecular mechanisms behind both phenomena have received much […]