Studying TAD Boundary Issues Through Epigenome Editing of CTCF MotifsOctober 19, 2019So, your therapist says you have boundary issues? Well you’re not alone; CTCF is known to play a critical role in setting the boundaries of topologically associating domains (TADs), but there’s been no therapist to uncover their definitive impact. Thankfully, new research from the lab of Bradley Bernstein at the Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) […]
It’s a Bear, It’s a Pig, it’s a Tardigrade! Superhero Dsup Protein Protects Chromatin from HarmOctober 19, 2019Some superheroes wear flashy costumes and capes that you can’t help but notice, but then there’s the unassuming tardigrade; the microscopic wonder beast with the astounding ability to survive extreme temperatures, radiation, and the vacuum of space! With multiple secret identities, including “water bear” and “moss piglet”, the discrete invertebrate has kept the key to […]
Gut Microorganisms Make Epithelial HDAC3 Work to their RhythmOctober 7, 2019While many of us prefer the sound of silence, others feel the need to inject a little rhythm into their everyday lives; but how do you do it? Spinning a few records at home, moving to the beat at Samba lessons, or do you use the microorganism-mediated activity of Hdac3 in your gut?! While researchers […]
DNA Methylation Analysis Puts a Face to a Very Ancient NameOctober 1, 2019A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away (2014 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel actually!) a team of researchers banded together under the leadership of Liran Carmel and David Gokhman. Rather than inventing the wheel or devising a strategy to capture wooly mammoth, the team developed a way to reconstruct […]
Sherlock Genomes: Stimulation Leaves Epigenetic Evidence Behind in NeuronsSeptember 30, 2019Even the most careful criminals leave some kind of evidence; a fingerprint or a strand of hair can be enough for a clever investigator to link them to the scene of the crime. Although it’s far from an open and shut case, new research in mice shows that the epigenome of neurons contains chromatin clues […]
Maladaptive Memories are Mediated by Methylated Histones and ΔFosB in the Mouse HippocampusSeptember 10, 2019The air is starting to get crisp, the first few leaves are changing color and you can suddenly buy pumpkin-spice everything – these contextual cues can only mean one thing; you’d better start studying for your midterms! But wait, you haven’t had to worry about exams for years… Thanks to your hippocampus and epigenetics, environmental […]
This Is the Methylome that Alzheimer’s BuiltSeptember 9, 2019“This is the House that Jack Built” is a popular and beloved children’s rhyme. But if children’s rhymes were written by scientists instead, it might look something like this: There’s an oxidation reaction on a methyl group, on a carbon in a cytosine, in a region of a gene, in the genome of a neuron, […]
Methylation Prevents Young Transposable Elements From LINE-1 Dancing Through the Neural GenomeAugust 13, 2019Whether you’re a fan of nightclubs, speakeasys, or honkey-tonks, you may have noticed that the population on the dance floor seems to get younger every year. Maybe you’re just getting older, or maybe today’s youth are getting better at getting around the rules. Like bouncers at a bar, developing cells have DNA methylation to keep […]
LADL-ing Up a New Optoepigenetic Chromatin Looping TechniqueAugust 12, 2019For your daily serving of epigenetics brain food, look no further than the entwined spaghetti-like chromatin. Although it may look like a bowl full of chaos, there are distinct domains and long-range genomic interactions that function in a variety of regulatory roles. A team at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) led by Jennifer Phillips-Cremins and […]
“CoRSIV” Writing: Jotting Down Interindividual Variation in DNA MethylationAugust 6, 2019From playwrights to poets, many writers take advantage of word processing software to keep their writing under control. However, variety is the spice to life, and others swear that putting quill to parchment and writing out their epic tales in good old flowing cursive helps to get the creative juices flowing. As a testament to […]