S. PENNINGS LABTransferring certain mouse cells from their native environment to culture changes them. Specifically, culturing was associated with the loss of the epigenetic mark 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in mouse embryonic fibroblasts, according to a study published in Genome Biology this week (February 3).
In cultured cells, “to our surprise, [5hmC] disappeared almost overnight,” said Medical Research Council’s Richard Meehan, who led the study.
“This paper adds substantial fuel to the fire of concern about using cultured cells to study phenotypes associated with cancer in vivo (such as drug resistance),” the National Cancer Institute’s Michael Gottesman told The Scientist in an e-mail. “Obviously, these studies are done using mouse embryo fibroblasts and not human cancer cells, but the changes in 5hmC levels are so dramatic and so rapid that they cannot be ignored.”
SHAWN WINTER, BENJAMIN CLARK, DARTMOUTH COLLEGERat grid cells rely in part on cues from head direction cells to function properly, researchers from Dartmouth College showed in Science this week (February 5). When the researchers experimentally impaired connections between the two cell types in the rodents, they found atypical activity.
“The findings are expected but still important in that they verify ...
