Histones tagged posts

Evidence of disturbed gene activity in the brain as a result of heart problems. Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) come to this conclusion based on laboratory studies. They consider that they have found a possible cause for the increased risk of dementia in people with heart problems. In mice, a specific drug which is known to affect gene activity alleviated the mental deficits. The involved experts see these results as potential approaches for therapies. The study data are published in the scientific journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.

In Germany, about four million people are affected by what is called “heart failure”: Their heart muscle is too...

This is a graphical representation of work investigating the mechanism of Suv39h1 using designer chromatin. Credit: Image provided by the Muir lab

Essential DNA packing enzyme relies on 2-step activation to ensure correct genetic organization. For any particular cell, eg skin or brain cell, much of this genetic information is extraneous and must be packed away to allow sufficient space and resources for more important genes. Failure to properly pack DNA jeopardizes the stability of chromosomes and can result in severe diseases. Suv39h1 is one of the main enzymes that chemically mark the irrelevant regions of DNA to be compacted by cellular machinery, but little is known about how it installs its tag.

Scientists at Princeton have used ‘designer chromatin’ templates – highly customized repli...

A putative model attempting to depict different levels of genomic organization that may be associated with specific acquired spermatozoal defects. The sperm nucleus is broken down sequentially until the raw DNA. In human spermatozoa it is proposed that up to 15% of histone complexed DNA may remain after spermiogenesis while the remainder is all protamine complexed. For further information see Ward and Coffey (1991).

A dad’s food intake, drugs, exposure to toxic products and even stress can affect the development and health not only of his unborn children, but even of his grandchildren. They have discovered histones may play a crucial role in the process.

In the past, most epigenetics has focused on a process involving DNA and methyl groups that turn up or down the expression of specific ge...