How the Journey Towards Sperm Maturation Can Leave Offspring Stressed Out!April 23, 2020Queues! Security! Lost passports! While many will be currently reminiscing about the fun and frolics enjoyed during old holidays to far-flung exotic destinations, we generally choose to forget the enduring stress of the outward journey. However, a fascinating new study now provides evidence that any stress endured by maturing sperm during their epic voyage is […]
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 […]
SAXS Imaging Gets to the (Brave)heart of the Matter: First Full-Length Structure of a Long Non-Coding RNAFebruary 18, 2020It’s Valentine’s season, which means love is in the air, and heart-shaped novelties are abundant. But new research from the labs of Trushar Patel (University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) and Karissa Sanbonmatsu (Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA) has flipped the script: they are giving us the shape of Braveheart, a long non-coding RNA […]
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 […]
The Epigenomics of Non-Coding DNA Variants with Dr. Guillaume BourqueDecember 20, 2019Dr. Guillaume Bourque from McGill University discusses his lab’s bioinformatic research examining the epigenomics of non-coding DNA sequence variants at the 2019 joint CEEHRC/IHEC meeting.
X Chromosome Inactivation with Dr. Carolyn BrownDecember 20, 2019Dr. Carolyn Brown from the University of British Columbia discusses her lab’s research into the epigenetics of X chromosome inactivation at the 2019 joint CEEHRC/IHEC meeting.
Existential Epigenetics: Deciphering the Where, the Why, and the How of m6A and m6Am mRNA Methylation!July 26, 2019Can we break the speed of light? Is the universe infinite? What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything? At least two of these questions have fascinated physicists and philosophers for decades, but the questions weighing heavy on their minds of the existential epigeneticists among us relate to something a little different: the […]
Epigenetic Heirlooms: The C. elegans Behavioral Legacy is Inherited Through Small RNAsJuly 2, 2019Some families have heirlooms that get passed down from generation to generation but if you’re a nematode, you might inherit more than just your Grandpa’s pocket watch! The phenomenon of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI) was first discovered in Caenorhabditis elegans, where environmental stressors can alter physiological responses in offspring up to 20 generations later! Since […]
HiChIRP-y New Protocol Reveals the Scaffolding Function of lncRNAsJune 24, 2019Freshly brewed coffee, a lightly toasted bagel, the sweetness of orange juice; what makes you feel “chirpy” first thing in the morning? The good people from the labs of William J. Greenleaf and Howard Y. Chang (Stanford University, CA, USA) have been waking up, working hard, and feeling good, all thanks to the development of […]
Moms Hedonistic Lifestyle Echoes Through the Ages Thanks to Sperm tRNA-derived Small RNAsMay 28, 2019Sometimes a novel, a poem, or a song can enjoy such an outpouring from adoring fans that its influence can echo across the ages; however, recent work led by the lab of Daria Peleg-Raibstein (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) has established that mom’s unhealthy lifestyle can also echo across the ages leading to an observed negative impact […]