Cognitive Benefits of Dad’s Enriched Environment Passed to Offspring Through Sperm miRNAsMay 25, 2018With Father’s Day just around the corner, it’s the time of year we think about how we can “enrich” Dad’s life with power tools, gift cards, and hand-made crafts. But maybe we should be looking into enriching Dad’s cognitive environment because it turns out that he can pass those benefits on. In mice, the environmental […]
Sea Snails Thank RNA-induced DNA Methylation for the Long-term Memories!May 16, 2018Forget everything you know about memories (!) because a new study has turned our knowledge regarding memory formation on its head by showing the ability to transfer memories from animal-to-animal! Current dogma states that learning-induced modifications of synaptic connections underlie the storage of our long-term memory (LTM); however, recent studies have suggested that neuron cell […]
Intergenerational Transmission of Dad’s Diet: Dnmt2 Provides a Big Payload of Small RNAsMay 4, 2018Dnmt2 represents the lesser-known child of the DNA-methyltransferase family, but not because of any lack of pizazz or stage presence, but perhaps due to the lack of detectable DNA-cytosine methylation activity when compared to its more well-known brethren (Dnmt1 and Dnmt3). Instead of modifying DNA, Dnmt2 plays a big role in transfer RNA (tRNA) methylation […]
TERRA lncRNA Tailors a Trimethylation Trio at TelomeresApril 27, 2018A good tailor will make any scientist look presentable in an expensive suit or a glitzy dress (when we escape the confines of a lab coat) and now, the group of Maria A. Blasco (CNIO, Madrid, Spain) describes how long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) tailor our telomeric DNA with just enough trimethylated histones to suit any […]
A Long non-coding RNA Superhero is GUARDIN our Genome from DNA Damage!April 4, 2018Batman swoops through Gotham, Supergirl flies over National City, and the Black Panther keeps his keen eyes on Wakanda; every superhero acts as a guardian of the beloved place they call home, protecting from any number of devious and dastardly threats. Now, researchers from the laboratory of Xu Dong Zhang and Mian Wu (Henan Provincial […]
Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance of a Trio of Epigenomic Changes Induced by DDTMarch 27, 2018DNA methylation has long been the shining star of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance work, with other mechanisms signing backup. But now, the solo act has now become a trio, with histone modifications and non-coding (ncRNA) stepping into the limelight. For an in utero exposure to be truly transgenerational, and not an intergenerational effect, it must impact […]
The Single-Cell Trifecta: Nucleosome Occupancy, DNA Methylation, and Gene ExpressionFebruary 27, 2018While recent advancements let us map the epigenome of a single-cell, the same studies can leave us a bit single-minded when facing the many layers of the epigenetic landscape. Thankfully, to quench our integrative omics thirst, a clever new technique reveals that just because you’re looking at single cells doesn’t mean you only need to […]
An endosiRNA Trap Shoots Down the Transposable Element Rebellion of Embryonic DevelopmentNovember 12, 2017During early embryonic development, our genome lets down its DNA methylation defenses and becomes vulnerable to rebellious transposable elements (TEs). However, those rebel scum are quickly met with a barrage of endogenous short interfering RNAs (endosiRNAs), all before they realize even realize that “It’s A Trap!” The mechanism of this cunning tactic employed by our […]
Base Resolution Profiling Details the Intricacies of the m1A RNA ModificationNovember 4, 2017Insurance contracts, loan agreements, and scientific studies; while it’s easy to pretend that we know what´s going on after a quick skim, we often require a detailed interpretation of the complex combinations of letters, numbers, symbols, and accents to gain a fuller comprehension of the matter at hand. In the realm of our epitranscriptomic language, […]
Running Around in Circles to Understand N6-methyladenosine (m6A)September 10, 2017While most studies on the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA modification have been on the straight and narrow, the research trajectory taken by the labs of Cosmas C. Giallourakis and Alan C. Mullen will have you running around in circles! More specifically, Chan Zhou and Benoit Molinie (along with their tight circle of friends) sought to discover […]
