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Smoking Damages the Epigenome for a LONG time

January 8, 2015

While we all know that smoking is bad for you, and even your baby, it seems that the effects last longer than you may think. Researchers from Imperial College London investigate and show that while there are epigenomic benefits to giving up smoking, there are also some changes that persist for what seems to be a lifetime. Previously, […]

Hi-C Captures KNOT: A Chromatin Conformation for all Chromosomes

January 1, 2015

Putting a modern twist on the holiday spirit, researchers from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) gift a new piece of chromatin architecture that welcomes each and every chromosome to its party. And it comes from a surprisingly festive plant; Arabidopsis. On a Hi-C run surveying chromatin architecture, the touring researchers encountered a number of landmarks. At first they came across the standard sights: […]

Plotting the Path to Pluripotency Uncovers Key Role of DNA Methylation

December 29, 2014

If you’ve read our recent piece ‘Reprogramming Roadmap Reveals Fuzzy New Stem Cells‘ you’ll already know how “Project Grandiose” [1, 2], the brainchild of Andras Nagy, identified a new pluripotent state (the F-class stem cell). While the discovery of this new class is thrilling, the main purpose of this grand project was to uncover the […]

A “Grandiose” Project Provides a Fuzzy New Future for iPSC Research

December 17, 2014

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs) research burst on to the scene in 2006 with a paper which has since spawned thousands of studies and has proved to be a quantum leap for regenerative medicine. This reached a crescendo this year when a Japanese patient became the first recipient of retinal cells generated from iPSCs made […]

Histone H2A.Z Subunit Exchange Controls Memory

December 17, 2014

Memory is one fancy cellular function that seems to be the niche of the epigenome. Through it a cell can remember its identity and past exposures. But what about that other type of memory? Ya know, neuroepigenetic memory. We’ve already seen that histone methylation has a role in long-term memories and altered histone acetylation (H4K12) is involved […]

Vitamin C Promotes ESC Self-Renewal by Modulating miRNA Expression

December 16, 2014

We all know “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away”, but it requires a lot of discipline to ensure that our diet contains enough vitamins. This holds especially true for the daily vitamin C uptake. Unfortunately, humans (and – for some mysterious reason – guinea pigs) lost the ability to synthesize this now essential […]

Alpha-ketoglutarate: Small Metabolite With Big Influence on Stem Cell Pluripotency

December 15, 2014

Many of us go through the morning ritual of picking up store-brewed coffee, although we could just as easily make it ourselves. Most mammalian cells feel the same about glutamine, which they require in abundance, even though glutamine is a non-essential amino acid. Now, stem cell researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center show that glutamine […]

Dynamic Pseudouridylation of ncRNA and mRNA

December 15, 2014

Pseudouridine (Ψ) is not only the most abundant post-translational modification (PTM) of RNA in all organisms, but it is also amongst the first discovered, way back in the futuristic 50’s, where it was deemed the 5th nucleotide of RNA. Ψ doesn’t discriminate against cellular functions or evolutionary distinct species. And while studied intently in rRNA […]

Epigenetic Exploitation of Host Cells by Viruses

December 14, 2014

Exploitation is a common theme in all fields of biology and viruses are no exception. But now it seems that viruses are up to some creative tricks when it comes to keeping a low profile in preparation for their full attack and sneaking out a few infections, a process known as viral latency. While DNA methylation may function as […]

Epigenetics Mediates Immortality of Adult Stem Cells

December 13, 2014

What would you do to ensure your immortality? Drink a potion? Cast a spell? Or even set out on an expedition to find the fountain of youth? Researchers from the Adult Stem Cell Technology Centre in Boston, USA have discovered that adult stem cells in the mouse have another more intricate strategy towards living forever […]