Chemical changes to histones, the proteins that help to pack and organize DNA inside cells, play a key role in determining what genes will be consistently activated over the course of an animal or ...

The genome—which contains genes encoded in DNA—acts as the fundamental blueprint of life. But what you might not know is that ...

Histone modification is an epigenetic mechanism that regulates gene expression by altering chromatin structure and DNA accessibility for transcription. Histone modification is regulated by various ...

Molecular biologists decode the epigenetic silencing of problematic retroviral gene sequences. LMU molecular biologist Gunnar Schotta decodes the epigenetic silencing of problematic retroviral gene ...

The accurate distribution of chromosomes in an oocyte is essential for the correct transmission of genetic information to the next generation. Now, researchers from Kyushu University have demonstrated ...

Every cell type in the human body carries the same approximately 3.2 billion base pairs of DNA, yet a liver cell behaves nothing like a neuron. The epigenome explains this difference: in each cell, ...

Researchers have determined whether a specific chemical modification of a protein that packages the genome called a histone affects gene activity and cell proliferation. Researchers have determined ...

The accurate distribution of chromosomes in an oocyte is essential for the correct transmission of genetic information to the next generation. Now, researchers from Kyushu University have demonstrated ...

Histone modification is an epigenetic mechanism that enables fine-tuning of gene expression. Mutation or dysregulation of proteins associated with histone modification (called “writers,” “erasers,” ...

Modification of histone tails, by acetylation, methylation or phosphorylation, affects the local chromatin structure and the transcriptional regulation of adjacent genes. Pericentric heterochromatin ...