Bromodomain Inhibitor is the Male Contraception for the Ladies’ MouseAugust 22, 2012Mice from your backyard to Paris are buzzing with excitement after a team of scientists at Baylor may have paved the way for them to “mingle” with fewer consequences. The research team, led by Martin Matzuk, set out to explore ways to target, BRDT, a testes-specific, and bromo-domain containing protein that plays a key role […]
Pol II Transcription Slows at 5-Formylcytosines (5caC) and 5-Carboxylcytosines (5fC)July 31, 2012It’s summertime—a time when you just want to take things slow. Researchers now report that 5-formylcytosines (5fCs) and 5-carboxylcytosines (5caCs) like to slow things down, no matter what the season. They say that these mods put the brakes on RNA Pol II transcription and make it less specific. Sure, researchers have known about 5fC and […]
NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Program Data ResourceJune 18, 2012Last August, we shared with you some of the great new online resources being developed by the NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Program. Now, the latest issue of Epigenomics, has published an update of all the latest editions, tweaks and refinements they’ve made over the last year. The NIH Roadmap Reference Epigenome Mapping Consortium has created a […]
EZH2, PRC2 Get a Little Guidance From Intronic RNAs to Find Target GenesJune 7, 2012When touring an unfamiliar city or museum, it often helps to have a good guide if you want to see the best sights. Researchers in Spain now report that intronic RNAs, like a well trained herding dog, usher the repressive polycomb complex right to the specific chromatin regions they need to target in order to […]
Nature AND Nurture Both Contribute to DNA MethylationJune 1, 2012A recent pub led by a talented research team might call for a ceasefire in the old “nature vs. nurture” argument. Researchers in The Netherlands and the U.S. say their new study on people conceived or born during the Dutch Famine of 1944-1945 piles on even more evidence that the prenatal environment and your genes […]
New Epigenetic Analysis Methods to Watch in 2012May 24, 2012Based on what we’ve seen so far in journals, conferences and interviews, 2012 could be a banner year for epigenetic analysis methods. New twists on old tricks, and futuristic technology advances have converged to create some really exciting new approaches in the field. Here are just a few that you’ll want to keep track of […]
DNA Methylation Deserts: Hot Spots for Structural Genomic MutationsMay 23, 2012Deserts typically stir up images of desolate landscapes sprinkled with cacti, but according to a new report, ‘methylation deserts’, the 1% of the genome with the lowest occurrence of DNA methylation, are actually fertile ground for structural genomic mutations. A research group from the Baylor College of Medicine knew that the human genome contains many loci […]
Nanofluidic Sorting and Analyzing of Single Methylated DNA Molecules in Real TimeMay 14, 2012Getting kids to line up single-file can be a challenge, but lining up single molecules for analyses can be just as frustrating. Now, researchers at Cornell report that they’ve done just that—they can line up single DNA molecules in a tiny channel in a nanofluidic device, sort them according to methylation state, then recover them […]
HPV Integration Brings Cancerous Changes to the DNA MethylomeMay 9, 2012Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) can protect against many forms of the virus, which can cause cervical cancer. But not everyone gets vaccinated, and there’s still a risk of becoming infected with an HPV type that the vaccination doesn’t cover. Early epigenetic events associated with HPV infection are still mysterious, so researchers in the United […]
oxBS-Seq Breaks Through 5hmC Sequencing BarrierApril 26, 20125-Hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) has always been a bear to sequence, mostly because it’s virtually indistinguishable from its close relative, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) using classic bisulfite sequencing techniques. Now a new sample preparation method has hit the scene that can discriminate between cytosine, 5mC and 5hmC at single base resolution, called oxidative bisulfite sequencing (oxBS-Seq) that essentially smashes […]
