Monthly Archives: October 2011

Identical Twins are Not Identically Imprinted : Epigenome in Context of the Genome

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Nicole Kelesoglu

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 MZ twins. Even cooler, a new epigenetics clue came out of demonstrating this imprinting variability. This month in PloS one, the collaborators from the Garvin Institute, the University of Nijmegen Medical Centre, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and St. Vincent’s Clinical School, University of NSW, produced the paper Impact of the Genome on the Epigenome Is Manifested in DNA Methylation Patterns of Imprinted Regions in Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins. by Marcel W. Coolen et al. Blood samples from 128 pairs of identical, and 128 pairs of fraternal teen aged twins, … Continue reading →

Posted in Autism, Bioinformatics, DNA Methylation, Developmental Biology, Divergent Transcription, Gene Regulation, Gene Silencing, Genomewide Methylation Profiling, In Utero, Mass Spec, Methylation Specific PCR, Next Gen Sequencing, Sodium Bisulfite Sequencing, Transcriptome microarray | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Stress and Epigenetics II — Early Life Experiences and Methylation

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Chris Womack

It’s too early to draw lasting conclusions about this stuff, but there’s interesting work going on in the epigenetics of stress. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on how stressing out mice during a particular window of time during pregnancy seemed to leave lasting epigenetic effects on descendants. I also mentioned a recent study by the University of British Columbia’s Michael Kobor and his colleagues at UBC and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine that also hints at some critical windows of epigenetic sensitivity — but in humans. It’s that study I’m writing about now, and it points toward some great areas for follow-up research. (See the bottom of this post for the full reference.) Most interestingly … Continue reading →

Posted in Applications | 3 Comments

Lost in a corn maze? : Developing Epigenetics based Agronomic Tools in Maize

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Nicole Kelesoglu

I just want to start this off by saying that I was NOT the woman who called the police yesterday, because her family was lost in a corn maze coincidently nearby New England Biolabs.  It could have easily been me – but I swear it wasn’t!  View the amusing story here. Ah autumn. It’s harvest time in New England. It’s usually a lot of fun. Going to the farm…picking apples, getting lost in corn mazes, riding tractor hay rides. Who doesn’t love this season? The epigenetics contribution to genetically food and crop science has been on my mind as a topic for a while now.  Everyone lauds a good cook.  But we all seldom appreciate the work done by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bioinformatics, Biomarkers, Plant Epigenetics, Transcriptome microarray | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Q&A with BLUEPRINT’s Henk Stunnenberg on the New Leukemia, Blood Epigenome Project

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Chris Womack

The European Union’s $53.5 million, 4-year BLUEPRINT project launched this week with the ambitious goal of cataloging the epigenomes of 100 different cell types, with a focus on hematopoietic cells and leukemia disease states. The project is only the second such effort associated with the International Human Epigenome Consortium—the first being the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s Roadmap Epigenomics Mapping Consortium—and it’s composed of 41 research entities, including university labs, research institutes, and drug and diagnostics companies. BLUEPRINT coordinator Henk Stunnenberg, a professor of molecular biology at the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, says the project may publish early work as soon as a year from now, and that the epigenomes it uncovers have the potential to generate diagnostics … Continue reading →

Posted in Applications, Biomarkers, Chromatin Structure, DNA Methylation, Diagnostics, Gene Regulation, Histone Modifications, New Lab Methods, Next Gen Sequencing, Sodium Bisulfite Sequencing, Translational Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment