epigenetic regulation

In mice, epigenetic marks made on histones during infancy influence depression-like behavior during adulthood. A drug that reverses the genomic tags appears to undo the damage.

Altering DNA methylation in a particular area of the hypothalamus halved the animals’ voluntary exercise as adults.

Using CRISPR and other tools, scientists are modifying DNA methylation, histone marks, and other modifiers of gene expression to understand how they affect health and disease.

A study of chemical tags on histone proteins hints at how the same genome can yield very different animals.

Emerging technologies help researchers draw mechanistic links between metabolism and epigenetic modification of DNA.

Some viral pathogens modify chromatin and other epigenetic machinery, making them appealing drug targets.

Unlike animals, plants stably pass on their DNA methylomes from one generation to the next. The resulting gene silencing likely hides an abundance of phenotypic variation.

Multiple molecular mechanisms keep plant DNA methylation in order.

A molecular biologist ventures into entomology to use genetically modified ants as laboratory models of behavioral epigenetics.

Understanding postmortem gene expression could help researchers improve organ transplants and time-of-death estimates, according to studies on mice and zebrafish.

Differential expression of a chromatin-interacting protein is linked to weight variation in mice and humans, researchers show.

DNA isn’t the only decorated nucleic acid in the cell. Modifications to RNA molecules are much more common and are critical for regulating diverse biological processes.

Additions to the bases of RNA molecules can be written, read, and erased.

The use of targetable chromatin modifiers has ushered in a new era of functional epigenomics.

Three studies identify roles for N6-methyladenosine in algae, worms, and flies.

Assistant Professor, Huffington Center On Aging, Baylor College of Medicine. Age: 38

Mice undernourished during pregnancy can transmit the effects of such nutritional stress to their sons’ germ cells, epigenetically.  

Molecular markers of a mother’s nutrition around the time of conception can be found in her child’s DNA.

A mistimed sleep cycle drastically reduces the number of genes that are expressed in a 24-hour rhythm.