Individual cells in the human body develop progressively over time, ultimately becoming specialized in specific functions. This process, known as cell differentiation or specialization, is central to the formation of distinct ...
Neurological disorders, such as trauma, stroke, epilepsy, and various neurodegenerative diseases, often lead to the permanent loss of neurons, causing significant impairments in brain function. Current treatment options are ...
Jul 4, 2024
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While most cell types experience a functional decline after years of proliferation and replication, T cells can proliferate seemingly indefinitely and without detriment.
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Determining the genetic and epigenetic factors that influence brain folding is the objective of the latest study co-led by the Neurogenesis and Cortical Expansion laboratory, directed by researcher Víctor Borrell at the ...
Jun 11, 2024
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Cambridge scientists have grown 'mini-guts' in the lab to help understand Crohn's disease, showing that 'switches' that modify DNA in gut cells play an important role in the disease and how it presents in patients.
Jun 10, 2024
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Dr. Raffaele Teperino, head of the "Environmental Epigenetics" research group at Helmholtz Munich, along with his research team, has examined the impact of paternal diet on children's health—specifically, the influence ...
Jun 5, 2024
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Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Innsbruck in Austria have developed a simpler and more effective screening method for cervical cancer than the method used today. The comprehensive study ...
Jun 4, 2024
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Epigenetics, a term coined by Conrad H. Waddington in the early 1940s, originally described the complex molecular pathways that govern how a genotype manifests as a phenotype. Over time, this definition has evolved to focus ...
May 31, 2024
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Amphetamine is a psychostimulant that has been used to treat a variety of brain dysfunctions. However, it is a highly abused drug. In fact, amphetamine and amphetamine-derived compounds such as methamphetamine (Meth) are ...
May 30, 2024
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Though 1 in 2 people will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime, there's still much we don't know about this disease. But thanks to continued research efforts, we keep learning more about the biology of cancer. One ...
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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.
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