Our genes are encoded in the DNA sequence of the genome, which is highly similar across the diverse cell types of our body. Yet, each cell can only access those genes that are in an epigenetically permissive state. The epigenome ...
Evolution
Jan 18, 2023
2
84
For decades, a small group of cutting-edge medical researchers have been studying a biochemical, DNA tagging system, which switches genes on or off. Many have studied it in bacteria and now some have seen signs of it in, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 3, 2022
0
159
Two insect species from Latin America, the dinosaur ant and the red paper wasp, have been used to uncover the molecular mechanisms underpinning queen and worker roles in social insects. The research by an international team ...
Biotechnology
Oct 19, 2015
11
561
(Phys.org) —A team of Israeli, Spanish and German researchers has for the first time created a map of gene expression in Neanderthals and Denisovans and has compared them with modern humans. In their paper published in ...
Many animals, including humans, have internal clocks and calendars to help them regulate behavior, physiological functions and biological processes. Although scientists have extensively studied the timekeeping mechanisms ...
Biotechnology
Sep 23, 2013
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0
Over the last two decades, scientists have come to understand that the genetic code held within DNA represents only part of the blueprint of life. The rest comes from specific patterns of chemical tags that overlay the DNA ...
Biotechnology
Sep 30, 2012
2
0
Johns Hopkins scientists report what is believed to be the first evidence that complex, reversible behavioral patterns in bees – and presumably other animals – are linked to reversible chemical tags on genes.
Plants & Animals
Sep 16, 2012
2
0
Scientists have observed, for the first time, an intermediate stage in the chemical process that repairs DNA methylation damage and regulates many important biological functions that impact health conditions such as obesity, ...
Biochemistry
Nov 10, 2010
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0
A Northwestern Medicine study has detailed the development of a machine learning model to predict DNA methylation status in cell-free DNA by its fragmentation patterns, according to findings published in Nature Communications.
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 12, 2024
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38
Only recently, a new era in medicine began with the first RNA vaccines. These active substances are modified RNAs that trigger immune responses of the human immune system. Another approach in RNA medicine targets the body's ...
Biochemistry
Apr 10, 2024
0
65
DNA methylation is a type of chemical modification of DNA that can be inherited and subsequently removed without changing the original DNA sequence. As such, it is part of the epigenetic code and is also the best characterized epigenetic mechanism. Because methylation is a common capability of all viruses for self non-self identification, the epigenetic code could be a persistent remnant of ancient viral infection events.
DNA methylation involves the addition of a methyl group to DNA — for example, to the number 5 carbon of the cytosine pyrimidine ring — in this case with the specific effect of reducing gene expression. DNA methylation at the 5 position of cytosine has been found in every vertebrate examined. In adult somatic tissues, DNA methylation typically occurs in a CpG dinucleotide context; non-CpG methylation is prevalent in embryonic stem cells.
In plants, cytosines are methylated both symmetrically (CpG or CpNpG) and asymmetrically (CpNpNp), where N can be any nucleotide but guanine.
Research has suggested that long term memory storage in humans may be regulated by DNA methylation.
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