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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DNMT1 Depletion Helps Hunt for Heritable Methylation

February 5, 2015

Sometimes it takes a special kind of guy to get the job done and when the job is to keep imprinted genes differentially methylated, that guy is DNMT1. An international group of researchers led by Jacquetta Trasler in Canada set out to exploit this fact in order to identify yet unknown imprinted genomic sequences. Several […]

From Neuron to Germline: Inheritance by Mobile RNAs

February 4, 2015

We’ve got transgenerational epigenetic inheritance on the mind and now strangely enough it seems that the mind also causes transgenerational epigenetic inheritance?! Researchers have just shown the strangest case of inheritance yet: soma to germline. A talented team from the University of Maryland have been tracing double stranded RNA (dsRNA) in C. elegans and have made some interesting observations […]

Neurodevelopment and Methylomic Trajectories: Sex and Disease

February 4, 2015

If variety is the spice to life than the brain must be the spiciest organ of them all, with DNA methylation as its rooster sauce (which comes with its own embedded sodium bisuflite conversion kit). By studying the delicious layers of DNA methylation variation we’ve seen strange parental expression biases, methylation differences between discordant twins, and how the dynamics […]

Cellular Transdifferentiation: Meet the 21st Century Alchemists

February 3, 2015

For centuries, some of the world’s leading scholars worked endlessly with one objective, to turn ordinary metals into gold. Now, scientists of the 21st century are trying their hand at another type of alchemy, turning one cell type into another. This process, known as ‘transdifferentiation’ or ‘direct reprogramming’ can create a potentially limitless source of […]

Reprogramming Lottery is Epigenetically Rigged

February 3, 2015

If epigenetics has taught us anything, it is that not all genetically identical beings are created equal. A team of stem-cell researchers from Tel Aviv University led by Iftach Nachman now apply this principle to populations of cells undergoing reprogramming to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and show that some cells have a higher chance of […]

A SIRT-an Link Between Metabolism, Stem Cell Function and Epigenetics

January 27, 2015

In our younger years our rampant metabolism meant we could eat what we wanted with little or no consequences. However, as we get older, our metabolism somehow gets “reprogrammed”, meaning all that yummy bad stuff does nothing for our energy levels or our waistlines! But why do we face this fate? A delectable new study […]

A Good Friend is Forever: DNMTs and Histone Complexes

January 26, 2015

It’s not always easy to find good friends, but recent work has found that the de novo DNA methyltransferases DNMT3A2 and DNMT3B1 are far from socially awkward. Baubec et al. from the Swiss team lead by Dirk Schübeler uncovered some companions of these DNMTs by profiling their binding in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) through streptavidin […]

Abcam’s Bisulfite-Seq High Sensitivity Kit Streamlines 5mC Detection

January 26, 2015

The new Bisulfite-Seq High Sensitivity Kit from the creative crew at Abcam, is a 2-in-1 package that weaves bisulfite conversion, and Illumina® sequencing library prep into the same process. This single kit can take you from sample DNA, to firing up a Bisulfite Sequencing (BS) run that same day. There’s No Such Thing as Too […]

Intergenerational Epigenetic Effects of Dad’s Diet

January 23, 2015

The effect of epigenetic marks across generations has helped bring epigenetics to the public eye like never before. The health implications are enormous and so is the contribution to basic science, particularly evolution. However, one important distinction is whether it is a true form of molecular inheritance, known as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, or the shared effect […]

Active Demethylation: TET Enzymes, 5hmC, and Company

January 20, 2015

5hmC was originally discovered way back in the 50’s in bacteriophages and was first observed in mammals in the 70’s, but research into this was set back when these studies failed to replicate. And going back to the future, in 2009 two independent research groups, publishing on the same pages in science, found that this “unknown […]