He and his team at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany used fruit flies to explore
how epigenetic modifications are transmitted from the mother to the embryo.
BUSM researchers also discussed in Genetics & Epigenetics (May 2014)
how epigenetic modifications play a role in the development of diseases including cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, neurologic and pulmonary disorders.
Not exact matches
Researchers at the University of Zurich have now identified a mechanism
how cells pass on the regulation of genetic information through
epigenetic modifications.
Epigenetic modifications do not affect the DNA sequence of genes, but change
how the DNA is packaged and
how genes are expressed.
DNA methylation is one form of
epigenetic modification being studied by scientists trying to understand
how the same genetic code can produce so many different cells and tissues as well as differences between individuals as closely related as twins.
These
modifications, known as «
epigenetic» changes, help determine
how and when genes are used.
Just recently a handful of studies stirred the scientific community by showing that
epigenetic marks indeed can be transmitted over generations, but exactly
how, and what effects these genetic
modifications have in the offspring is not yet understood.
Epigenetics refers to reversible
modifications to DNA that don't affect the DNA sequence but alter
how genes are read.
Epigenetic modifications are chemical changes to DNA that affect
how genes are regulated.
Research in the Meissner laboratory focuses on
how stem cells achieve and maintain pluripotency, and the role that
epigenetic modifications play in this process.
The majority of that specialization is governed by
epigenetic changes — histone
modifications, DNA accessibility, and methylation — that influence when and
how genes are expressed.
Xiaowei Zhuang, at Harvard University, and colleagues used super resolution microscopy to follow
how chromatin packing changed based on its
epigenetic modifications.
Dr. Vijayanand also oversees a large - scale effort to map epigenomic
modifications in more than a dozen different types of human immune cells from normal individuals to understand
how epigenetic variations cause susceptibility to disease.
The Sarma laboratory is interested in the mechanisms of
epigenetic gene regulation, or
how the dynamic
modifications of the architecture of chromatin, the complex of DNA and proteins within the nucleus of our cells, impacts gene expression and cellular function.
Vijay also oversees a large - scale effort to map epigenomic
modifications in more than a dozen different types of human immune cells from normal individuals to understand
how epigenetic variations cause susceptibility to disease.
Tinkering with gene switches can have a profound effect on
how they behave, and labs around the world are now scanning the genome in hopes of identifying
epigenetic modifications — sometimes called «marks» or «tags» — that could serve as biomarkers, helping to predict and identify a wide range of conditions.
The major goals are to gain new knowledge into the ensemble of
epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation, non-coding RNAs and histone
modifications that are persistently altered by early experiences and
how they are transmitted across generations.
Throughout the 2000s, Wistar scientists made seminal discoveries in the field of
epigenetics and RNA transcription, contributing new knowledge on the role of histone
modifications in gene regulation and DNA repair and
how different RNA species, including microRNAs (miRNA) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA), are generated and
how they regulate gene transcription.
Epigenetics provides another way of understanding
how genes and environment interact in that there is increasing evidence that gene expression is moderated by the environment in which the organism grows and develops.15 Genetic information is encoded not just in DNA linear sequences but in
epigenetic changes in chromatin structure such as DNA methylation or covalent
modifications of the DNA - binding proteins.