A team co-led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and the New York Genome Center has developed an advanced method for revealing how gene mutations disrupt the normal packaging of DNA. These structural changes, which ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 10, 2024
0
65
Understanding how genes are regulated at the molecular level is a central challenge in modern biology. This complex mechanism is mainly driven by the interaction between proteins called transcription factors, DNA regulatory ...
Molecular & Computational biology
May 9, 2024
0
111
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are ubiquitous transcripts with crucial regulatory roles in various biological processes, including chromatin remodeling, post-transcriptional regulation, and epigenetic modifications. While ...
Plants & Animals
May 1, 2024
0
4
In mammals, social behavior and social status can substantially influence the survival, reproductive performance, and health of individuals. However, it is not yet fully understood how the translation of social and environmental ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 28, 2024
0
15
A research team has recently made a significant breakthrough in understanding how the DNA copying machine helps pass on epigenetic information to maintain gene traits at each cell division.
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 7, 2024
0
195
Scientists have extensively researched the structure and sequence of genetic material and its interactions with proteins in the hope of understanding how our genetics and environment interact with diseases. This research ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 28, 2024
0
0
In the heart of western Borneo's vibrant jungles, the edible fruits of the underground palm are well-known to the local people who snack on them. But this botanical marvel has remained unnoticed by the scientific community ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 25, 2024
0
4
Interspecific hybridization is a key process in plant evolution and breeding that can lead to phenotypic changes and the formation of new species. The merging of different genomes in a hybrid often triggers a so-called "genomic ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 21, 2023
0
1
Every cell in the human body contains the same genetic instructions, encoded in its DNA. However, out of about 30,000 genes, each cell expresses only those genes that it needs to become a nerve cell, immune cell, or any of ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 16, 2023
0
101
As global warming continues to redefine ecosystems, plants are increasingly tasked with swift adaptation to ensure their survival. One primary mechanism facilitating such rapid adaptation is epigenetic memory, specifically ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 13, 2023
0
1
In biology, and specifically genetics, epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence – hence the name epi- (Greek: επί- over, above, outer) -genetics. Examples of such changes might be DNA methylation or histone deacetylation, both of which serve to suppress gene expression without altering the sequence of the silenced genes. In 2011, it was demonstrated that the methylation of mRNA has a critical role in human energy homeostasis. This opened the field of RNA epigenetics.
These changes may remain through cell divisions for the remainder of the cell's life and may also last for multiple generations. However, there is no change in the underlying DNA sequence of the organism; instead, non-genetic factors cause the organism's genes to behave (or "express themselves") differently.
One example of epigenetic changes in eukaryotic biology is the process of cellular differentiation. During morphogenesis, totipotent stem cells become the various pluripotent cell lines of the embryo which in turn become fully differentiated cells. In other words, a single fertilized egg cell – the zygote – changes into the many cell types including neurons, muscle cells, epithelium, endothelium of blood vessels etc. as it continues to divide. It does so by activating some genes while inhibiting others.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
