Tag: human-and-mammalian
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Old proteins, new tricks
In order to switch genes on and off, chromatin has to be opened and shut, enabling the DNA to become open to the whim of the rest of the nucleus for transcription. This is called chromatin remodelling, and it’s far from an easy task because our DNA is wrapped around huge protein complexes called nucleosomes.…
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Decoding the molecular wiring underlying early development
Schematic of a poised enhancer, its associated modifications, and how it contacts its target gene. Designed in Biorender by me, 2023 (Figure 1B, BSc thesis) In the earliest stages of human development, it’s vital that genes are expressed at very specific times and places. If this goes wrong, developmental defects can arise. Enhancer regions, particularly…
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Stressed cells offload damaged DNA to their neighbours
During cellular stress, cells bundle broken DNA into micronuclei, which are then shuttled through microscopic tubes like a train travelling through a tunnel. Picture from here, under CC BY 2.0. DNA is precious; without it, our cells would not be able to survive. As such, it’s kept safely within the confines of the nucleus. The…
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A tale of two sequences
Lego bricks join up easily, with each part having a distinct function. Photo by Arto Alanenpää on Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Biology never makes things easy for us. It’s tempting to think of the genome as a well-oiled machine, with separate regions that join neatly together like Lego bricks to perform an overall…
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The vault: 40-year-old cellular mystery one step closer to being solved
A vault particle. Image adapted from Tanaka et al. on Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA-3.0. In 1986, researcher Nancy Kedersha and her supervisor Leonard Rome sat in the basement of the UCLA Biological Chemistry Department, next to an intimidating electron microscope that towered over the rest of the room. After several days of meticulously…
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DNA repair leaves unexpected scars
Artistic rendition of enzymes repairing a DNA break. Image from Flickr.com, courtesy of Tom Ellenberger, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Dave Gohara, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. Hi again! I hope everyone had a great Christmas period and New Year. After a few weeks off…
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The epigenetics of winter
Snow in Finland, 2022. Picture is my own. If you’re in the UK, you’ve probably noticed the turn in the weather we’ve had recently. Half the trees have shed their autumn leaves, forming dark red blankets across the wet pavements, and if you leave the house without a thick coat, you’ll be confronted by the…
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Switching memories on and off
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí. Sourced from brushandbubbles.com under CC BY-NC 4.0. “Oh Science and Progress! / You great big wonderful world! Oh what have you done?” – Sir John Betjeman, 1940 Ever find yourself randomly thinking about an embarrassing memory, something you said or did years ago, and wishing you could forget…
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Scanning the developing chromatome
The DNA-binding region of (human) SUV39H1, a key chromatin regulator identified by the authors with ChAC-DIA. Image from SINO Biological. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) exist in the embryo during early development and can develop into virtually any kind of cell in the body – pluripotent literally means “many-powered”. In the transition from early to late…
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Lingering epigenetic signatures may underlie weight regain
The “yo-yo” effect: even after losing weight, it can be easily regained. Image from Enrique Calabuig on Flickr.com, under CC BY-SA 2.0. Individuals with obesity frequently regain lost weight over time, even following long-term intervention or surgery. However, due to the challenges of working with human fat tissue at a single-cell level, the cellular mechanisms…