Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) patients have a two-fold higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than non-Hispanic White (NHW) patients for unknown reasons; now, a fascinating epigenetics study reveals the involvement of DNA methylation at imprinting control regions (ICRs). Researchers headed by Randy L. Jirtle and Cathrine Hoyo (North Carolina State University) explored ethnic variation in disease prevalence through an analysis of potentially aberrant DNA methylation patterns at ICRs after whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of samples from the brains of affected patients and matched controls. W ..read more

The Eiffel Tower may live long in the memory, and La Sagrada Familia will be remembered for eons (when they finish it!), but can any structure truly rival DNA? Now, a new study describes how one of DNA’s many unforgettablestructural forms – G-quadruplex DNA (G4-DNA) – helps to regulate the gene expression profiles controlling fear extinction memory. Researchers guided by Paul Marshall (now a group leader at the Australian National University) in the laboratory of Timothy W. Bredy (Queensland Brain Institute) previously discovered an association between neural activity and conformationally left ..read more

DNA methylation, whether in cells or in a cell-free environment, is one of the most powerful and most studied epigenetic regulators of gene expression and genomic organization. This is true for nearly all organisms, leading to the emergence of numerous methods for mapping 5-mC and 5-hmC and other modification states. There are many approaches for studying DNA methylation, with new mechanisms of action being published as quickly as we can keep up, along with streamlined and potentially more cost-effective means of analysis. Here we take a look at some particularly interesting recent publication ..read more

Epigenetics has moved into the driver’s seat. In a first-of-its-kind study, a talented team show that knocking down polycomb group proteins in Drosophila causes tumors to form, and bringing the proteins back doesn’t fix it. The finding demonstrates that transient epigenetic changes can irreversibly drive cancer—without genetic mutations.   Although we’ve suspected that epigenetic mechanisms could take the wheel, no one had shown it for sure. So, Anne-Marie Martinez and Giacomo Cavalli’s labs at CNRS (France), with collaborators at various institutions, shifted their experiments into high ..read more

Certain concepts – the speed of light, the electron’s charge, or the need to change cell media at the weekend – represent common constants in life. Many add the constant decay associated with the aging process to this list; however, analysis of DNA methylation in the mouse intestine now reveals that the aging process may not be as “linear” as once thought and that we may age in stages! Regularly remarkable researchers led by Christoph Kaleta, Christiane Frahm, and Steve Hoffmann (Leibniz Institute on Aging) appreciated studies at proteomic, transcriptomic, and tissue levels reporting “non-line ..read more

Scientists have longed to use “The Force” – provided by intracellular entities known as midichlorians – to help around the lab; now, an epigenetic alliance reports that an intracellular fibroblast component – Histone H1.0 – uses The Force and orchestrates cell mechanics when facing Sith-like evils such as physical/chemical stressors. The force is strong with histone H1.0! Jedi-like researchers led by Thomas M. Vondriska (University of California) applied epigenetic “mind tricks” to understand that altered extracellular forces impacted nuclear flexibility and chromatin compaction in fibroblasts ..read more

Our mothers might be onto something when they jokingly blame us for their gray hair and wrinkles. In two recent studies, DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks show that pregnancy, with its far-ranging emotional and physical changes, increases the biological ages of mothers. On the bright side, the effects were reversible in those who breastfed, according to one of the studies.   The Biological Cost of Pregnancy   Buying a crib, diapers, and other necessities can rack up the bills, but preparing for baby also has a biological cost. A hint of this was born last year when a group anal ..read more

Has searching for ncRNAs left you needing forty winks? Maybe take a short rest and dream-a-little-dream, but don’t sleep on a brand new technique known as napRNA sequencing or NAP-seq, which represents a wake-up call to the epigenetics field by providing the ability to describe novel classes of human regulatory non-coding or ncRNAs! Wakey-wakey! RNA polymerases I-III transcribe the genome into RNAs, which become processed into capped RNAs (mainly messenger RNAs), and non-capped RNAs (napRNAs), which can serve as non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) to regulate gene expression. To describe the genome-wide ..read more

A selfish toddler might throw a tantrum to get their way, but in worms, a “selfish” piece of DNA known as a toxin-antidote (TA) element uses something more sinister—poison. Researchers have just discovered a parent-of-origin effect with this nematode element that could be an evolutionary precursor of genomic imprinting.   Led by Alejandro Burga (Institute of Molecular Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) and Eyal Ben-David (who was at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), the altruistic team was studying two different wild isolates of C. tropicalis when they realized that they had ..read more

Ever wanted to cut a bad thing out of your life? Well, perhaps the secret to success doesn’t involve any cutting (of your DNA). In some people, a mutant PCSK9 gene interferes with the liver’s job to get rid of LDL, aka “bad” cholesterol. Now, researchers have developed an all-in-one “evolved engineered transcriptional repressor” (EvoETR) that reduced circulating levels of Pcsk9 in mice for weeks without the potential safety issues associated with cutting DNA with CRISPR-Cas9.   The PCSK9 protein controls the number of LDL receptors that are on the surface of liver cells by degrading some ..read more