Parents’ mutations, even if they’re not inherited by offspring, could affect subsequent generations through changes to epigenetic marks, a study finds.
A study links the loss of DNA methylation across the genome—as is common in cancer—to the disruption of the 3-D compartments that organize the genome and to the timing of DNA replication.
By harnessing a unique property of yeast, scientists can synthesize histones and the enzymes that modify these proteins, which spool DNA and influence gene expression.
In addition to isolating the first protein-coding gene from a eukaryote, Kedes furthered scientists’ understanding of actin genes and also laid the foundations for modern DNA databases such as GenBank.
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.
Mouse fathers whose sperm lacks the gene Kdm6a pass down altered methylation patterns to male offspring, along with a better chance of developing tumors and dying.
Archaea packages DNA around histones in a similar way to eukaryotes, suggesting that fitting a large genome into a small space was not the original role of chromatin.
Long non-protein-coding RNA (lncRNA) sequences are often transcribed from the opposite, or antisense, strand of a protein coding gene. In the past few years, research has shown that these lncRNAs play a number of regulatory roles in the cell. For exa