Cytosine-Mod Mysteries Sort-of Solved? Disappearing Methyls and Regulatory...
Last week’s excitement about the discovery of “seventh” and “eighth” DNA bases might’ve obscured parts of that work that shed a little more light on a very murky corner of epigenetics’ cytosine...
View ArticleTo Succeed, Develop Your Talents Epigenetically
While visiting Rio de Janeiro two weeks ago, I attended a soccer game. I’m not a big soccer fan. Yet there I was up on my feet, hollering. You just can’t help yourself. Brazilians are the best soccer...
View ArticleIdentical Twins are Not Identically Imprinted : Epigenome in Context of the...
As is the case with their fingerprints, imprinted genes are NOT identical in identical twins. In fact, methylation levels vary notably, yet randomly, in localized imprinted regulatory regions, between...
View ArticleSmoking and Placental Transcription–an Epigenetic Route to Low Birth Weight?
In an interesting little study published last month in the journal Epigenetics, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine compared transcriptomes and methylomes of placentas from 18 smokers and 18...
View ArticleTwin studies, Autism Risk, Epigenetic Molecular Trails in Utero
Researchers are keen to identify environmental causes of autism, using epigenetics. Twin studies in particular offer unique opportunities for clever researchers. The eye opening results of the...
View ArticleThe Epigenetics of Smoking During Pregnancy
Looking at around 474,000 CpG sites in cord blood from 1,062 newborns, a multi-institutional group of researchers took the first broad look at what happens epigenetically when pregnant moms smoke....
View ArticleDoes Epigenetics Prove Lamarck Right?
It seems like every article about epigenetics in the popular press includes a sentence about how maybe, just maybe this new finding or other proves that Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was right some 200 years...
View ArticleNew model for Down’s Syndrome Developed Using X Chromosome Inactivation
I have a special cousin who has Down’s syndrome. He’s cheerful. He’s kind. He’s hardworking, He has a photo collage of all his extended family in his room. We all love him dearly. I admire my aunt who...
View ArticleEpigenetics of a Certain Age
It’s my birthday. I’m of a certain age. My methylome is diminishing…and I’m taking it personally. What can epigenetics tell me about halting this process?! There is some context to ageing. As we...
View ArticleEpigenetics Links Prenatal Immunity and Autism
A mystery about the human brain is how its many regions develop and perform in unison. We are normally so blissfully unaware of our minds’ abilities, aren’t we?!!! Autism spectrum disorders show us how...
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