Tet3 Acts Against Anxiety in Forebrain NeuronsMarch 27, 2020While there are a lot of reasons to anxious these days, thankfully our neurons are using epigenetics to respond and adapt to the barrage of new information in our environment. In fact, DNA cytosine hydroxymethylation (5hmC) might be necessary to keep cognition in check, and a new research suggests that one of the enzymes that […]
Phase Separation – The Next Generation for Epigenetic Modifications?March 27, 2020It may sound like a term straight out of a science fiction program such as Star Trek, but liquid-liquid “phase separation” is actually one of the hot new topics in epigenetics. Phase separation of proteins with certain characteristics leads to the formation of biomolecular liquid “droplets” that concentrate the levels of some proteins/factors while excluding […]
Not Aging Gracefully? Two Epigenetic Regulators May be to BlameMarch 16, 2020In the last 50 years, there has been a ~20% increase in global life expectancy but interestingly, there has not been a corresponding increase in the number of healthy years lived. Lubin Jiang and Shi-Qing Cai at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China) sought to understand that disparity by examining the genetic factors involved […]
ChromID Helps Us Understand How Epigenetic Pots Find Their Protein LidsMarch 16, 2020The old saying “every pot will find its lid” suggests that a match exists for everyone looking for love, you just have to get out there and find your perfect partner! Online-dating may help scientists to find their significant other from the bench side; however, current laboratory approaches for the identification of protein-binding partners for […]
EpiGenie Guide: Chromatin ShearingMarch 6, 2020ChIP-Seq has transformed the field of epigenetics, providing unprecedented resolution and coverage for surveying protein- DNA interactions. Powerful, high-throughput sequencing is credited with most of the benefits, but there’s a lot more that goes into ChIP-Seq than sequencing. Chromatin shearing is one of the first critical steps in the ChIP-Seq workflow. Depending on your approach, […]
dCas9-ROS1 Cuts Out the Methylation Middlemen in Targeted DNA DemethylationMarch 3, 2020As the saying goes, the shortest path from A to B is a straight line and if you’re studying DNA demethylation, you know just how complicated things can get along the road from methylated to unmethylated cytosines. Mammals use Ten-Eleven Translocation proteins (TET) to oxidize 5mC, but the process creates pit stops that may be […]
Epigenetic Study Suggests that the Safety of Vaping is Running on FumesMarch 2, 2020With as many flavors as there are epigenetic modifications, vaping has arrived on the scene as a safer alternative to the smoking of cigarettes and a means to give up a rather unhealthy habit. However, the rise in vaping-related lung injuries and the “unforeseen” massive uptake of vaping by teenagers have prompted scientists to undertake […]
Inactive X Chromosomes SPENd Time Tucked Under the Epigenetic CoversFebruary 25, 2020When it’s the dead of winter, and the world outside is frozen solid, there’s no better place to be than under a mountain of warm blankets, like an inactivated X chromosome under a cloud of Xist long-noncoding RNA. Although we’ve known for a while that Xist is necessary for X chromosome inactivation (XCI), the mechanisms […]
ATAC-Me: An Epigenetic One-Two Combo Hits the Mark at EnhancersFebruary 16, 2020There are many ways to “attack” a problem – head-on, from the side, with great care, or swiftly and suddenly, but as many a boxer may tell you, the classic one-two combo usually works a treat. Now, in a slugfest of a new study, a rambunctious rabble of ring-ready researchers recently hit the mark and […]
A Novel lncRNA Plays Cat and MAOs with Aggressive BehaviorsFebruary 4, 2020It’s the classic dilemma — do you eat that delectable morsel of cheese now or save it for later? If you tend to lack self-control, you might be at higher risk of impulsive or aggressive behavioral disorders, which have been linked to genes in the monoamine oxidase (MAO) family. A new study from the lab […]