ABOVE: A model of the nucleosome
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John D. Loike, a Professor of Biology at Touro College and University Systems, writes a regular column on bioethics for The Scientist.
Epigenetics, the study of mechanisms by which genes are turned on or off without altering their genetic code or DNA sequences, is one of many ways that cells regulate gene expression. Epigenetics has helped scientists better understand complex and diverse biological processes such as cell differentiation, genomic imprinting, and X-chromosome inactivation and operates via two mechanistic processes: a) histone modifications (for example, methylation, acetylation, ubiquitination, and phosphorylation) and b) direct methylation of cytosine base pairs.
Two new methods of epigenetic assessment and intervention, APOBEC-coupled epigenetic sequencing (ACE-seq) and CRISPR, have the potential to dramatically enhance epigenetic research and its clinical applications.
Described in Nature Biotechnology last month, ACE-seq is a bisulfite-free method for localizing 5-hydroxymethylcytosine at single-base resolution with low ...
