The Chicken or the Egg: Beefing Up Causal Relationships Between DNA Methylation and Gene Expression in Skeletal MuscleJune 4, 2019An age old question: Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Determining the cause and effect relationship isn’t easy, and the same is true for the relationship between DNA methylation (DNAme) and gene expression. Who is strong-arming who? And even more important (at least to the pragmatists among us), how do both of these […]
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 […]
Major Psychosis Upsets the Epigenetic Balance of Chromosome 11 in the BrainMay 28, 2019We always hear about the importance of balance in our lives; work-life balance, balanced budgets, and a balanced diet, but what happens when the scales are tipped? For people struggling with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, an imbalance of dopamine in the brain can lead to delusions or hallucinations caused by major psychosis. Although we’ve known […]
eBook: Cancer and EpigeneticsMay 15, 2019Changes in epigenetic regulation are hallmarks of the transition from normal to cancerous cells. Exploration of the role of epigenetics in cancer has proven to be informative for better understanding both cancer and epigenetic mechanisms. In this EpiGenie ebook, we present summaries of several studies on exploring the role of specific epigenetic processes in cancer. […]
The Emergence of m7G onto the Mammalian Epitranscriptome SceneMay 9, 2019From Greta Thunberg leading global climate protests to Katie Bouman capturing the first picture of a black hole; sometimes an emerging star can create enormous waves on the world scene. In the realm of epigenetics, the “humble” N 7-methylguanosine (m7G) modification forms the eukaryotic mRNA cap, a structure that regulates mRNA export, translation, and splicing, […]