A Polymerase Evolved for Your Bisulfite Converted DNASeptember 11, 2015Bisulfite conversion can be used in so many different applications that it’s not so surprisingly referred to as the gold standard for DNA methylation analysis. But getting to the gold can create some problems for DNA. The process of converting methylated DNA (5mC) to Uracil and then finally a Thymine is harsh as it involves […]
Custom-Made Histone Modifications Add Some Bling to ChromatinSeptember 11, 2015Sure, the new Apple products announced this week represented new breakthroughs and yes, you’ll be able to personalize these devices with countless modifications like cases, color and screens. The real action though, was unfolding (pun intended) in the world of chromatin analysis as a new method surfaced for introducing tags or native modifications into histones (or any other […]
DNA Methyltransferase Teams Up with Long Non-Coding RNA to Police Colon Cancer CellsSeptember 5, 2015Mulder and Scully. Holmes and Watson. If TV and books are anything to go by, then unconventional pairings between the hot-headed detective and their calm and collected partner get results. Now it seems that another unlikely duo work together in the fight against crime of a biological nature. A new study reports that a DNA […]
ChIPmentation: The Next Fast and Low-Input ChIP-seq SensationAugust 25, 2015ChIP-Seq is the bread and butter of histone and transcription factor research. It has seen countless modifications to allow it to perform under all the variables biology can throw at it, but with that specialization has come limitations to generalization. Now the methodological maestros in the lab of Christoph Bock, which brought us single-cell methylome sequencing, […]
Epigenetics Drives Genetics Straight Into EvolutionAugust 9, 2015In today’s fast-paced world, quickly adapting to your environment is a game-changer. But genetic determinism cannot fully explain the rapid adaption seen in many species, which has left evolution in a dark age. That is until the enlightening work of Michael Skinner’s laboratory at Washington State University. Their observations on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance have been […]
Lights Out! Sleep Loss Affects DNA Methylation of Circadian GenesAugust 4, 2015 ‘La nuit blanche’. No, it is not a delicious pastry. It’s the French expression for staying up all night and not going to bed until the next evening, which in most cases will leave you pretty irritable. But losing one night’s sleep may affect more than just your mood; a new study by Swedish […]
Exploiting Nucleotide Recycling to Kill CancerJuly 28, 2015Have you ever had a doubt about what exactly you can recycle? The cell is faced with the same problem when it encounters epigenetic nucleosides. It does not really know if they can be recycled as they are or discarded. New research by the team of Skirmantas Kriaucionis shows that although such nucleotides are normally […]
Webinar: Key Steps for Validating Antibodies and Optimizing the ChIP WorkflowJuly 27, 2015Abstract: Research in the field of epigenetics has grown at a rapid pace since the discovery of the first histone acetyltransferase enzymes 18 years ago. Since then, significant advances have been made in our understanding of the basic mechanisms of epigenetics (histone acetylation, histone methylation, chromatin remodeling and DNA methylation) and the impact of epigenetic […]
Salivating Insights into the DNA Methylation Connection in Fetal Alcohol SyndromeJuly 20, 2015Things often show up where you least expect. Whether it’s finding your keys in the freezer, your phone in the couch, English kings underneath a car park, or the secrets of brain development in spit. Sometimes all you have to do is look. Previously, the lab of Shiva Singh from the University of Western Ontario […]
Race, Gender and Non-Coding RNA: tRNAs Don’t Play it Politically CorrectJuly 17, 2015Human genetics just got a whole lot more complicated with a report published last week by Isidore Rigoutsos’ team in Oncotarget. As if differences in expression profiles between cells, tissues and differentiation stages weren’t already enough, it seems that race and gender also affect genomic output. Specifically, the team focused on transfer RNAs (tRNAs). tRNAs […]