Mechanisms for inheriting phenotype outside of the DNA sequence
19
votes
1answer
194 views
Regulation of chromatin structure
Recently, I reviewed the different levels of chromatin structure. The primary level is nucleosomes, where DNA is bound to histones, and has structural similarity to "beads on a string." The secondary ...
16
votes
2answers
366 views
Can rats pass on memories of a maze to their offspring?
A friend of mine told me once about a documentary movie he saw some years ago. On this movie he saw scientists talking about particular experiment. This experiment involved rats and probably ...
15
votes
3answers
233 views
Defining paper(s) in epigenetics
For someone who is interested in learning about the discovery of epigenetics, which are the foundational defining papers in the area?
14
votes
3answers
436 views
Transmission of epigenetic regulation through surrogate mother
I know the basics of epigenetics, but I do not know how epigenetic mechanisms are transmitted from parents to children (or if there is even enough literature to derive a consensus). My question is ...
14
votes
2answers
177 views
Can methylation from DNA get copied to RNA during transcription?
Methylation on gene-body and 3'UTRs if copied to mRNA can potentially regulate post-transcription modifications or expression regulation. But I'm not sure if they are maintained after transcription or ...
12
votes
1answer
160 views
How are epigenetic marks transmitted during cell division?
As far as I know, this is one of the biggest questions in the epigenetic field: how are the epigenetic marks like histone modifications propagated through cell division? A lot is already known about ...
10
votes
1answer
182 views
How do CpG islands remain unmethylated?
In most of the genome CpG sites are pretty much always methylated, but CpG islands are instead often unmethylated. This has been linked to the fact that they often are associated to transcripted ...
10
votes
1answer
296 views
Why is the 3'UTR region highly methylated in most of the human genes?
Most of the human genes are found to be highly methylated in their 3'UTR region (0.8-0.9%). I was wondering if there is any specific reason for this?
9
votes
5answers
229 views
Is it the case that all changes in phenotype during life are not inheritable?
This came up in a talk with a friend. I wanted to clear this doubt. I've read about it before and did again after her remark (my thoughts didn't change: her concept is Lamarck's, not Darwin's), but ...
8
votes
2answers
120 views
Are prions an important driver in evolution?
I understand that prions have been implicated in the passing on of epigentic information[1]. Are prions thought to play a significant role in the evolution of organisms?
Alberti S, Halfmann R, King ...
8
votes
1answer
102 views
What are the criteria for determining the influence of epigenetic factors?
Isolating a gene or sets of genes in diseases sometimes isn't enough to determine penetrance - epigenetic factors can have a significant effect. What are the criteria in determining whether epigenetic ...
4
votes
1answer
75 views
How does “inheritance of methylation” of DNA and/or histones work?
What are the current models/ideas describing the mechanisms explaining inheritance of methylation on DNA resp. histone level?
Is there evidance of this "setup" information being really ...
3
votes
2answers
163 views
Short-term Lamarckism in asexual single cell organisms
I was reading through the Karr et al. (2012) whole-cell computational model. One of the things they did was to induce single-gene disruptions in their model. They observed several to be fatal, but:
...
3
votes
0answers
42 views
Literature about putative epigenetic state changes in mammal sequences after cloning steps in Escherichia coli
I would like you to point me out some literature about putative epigenetic state changes in mouse/mammal sequences after cloning steps in Escherichia coli.
This are the last search details I used in ...
2
votes
1answer
94 views
Can epigenetic changes affect reproductive success?
This is prompted by niallhaslam's answer to this question [Since Darwinian times, has there been any striking/notable effects of evolution on humans?]. A comment by Alan Boyd asks whether epigenetic ...
2
votes
1answer
47 views
How can chromatin state be measured?
I have some RNA-Seq data and I'd like to align it to the physical genome and see which sections of chromatin are geometrically open and being transcribed. The data are already sequence-aligned, and ...
2
votes
1answer
46 views
Histone marks mechanism
I am slightly confused about the mechanisms that makes histone modifications associate with gene expression.
That is, H3K36me3 is believed to be present in actively transcribed genes, H3K27me3 in ...
1
vote
1answer
33 views
Are there any studies of epigenetic difference between twins during their lifespan?
Are there any studies of epigenetic difference between twins during their lifespan ? I ask because I wonder if there exist phases during lifespan, when environmental factors plays major role ...
1
vote
2answers
38 views
Is it possible to do chip-seq on a specfic region?
Is it possible to do Chip-Seq on specific region of the genome. The idea is to enrich before the sequencing step to have more sensitivity.
Thanks,
N.
1
vote
1answer
47 views
How might IVF (and related technologies) alter epigenetic marks?
I was reading up on KCNQ1, which encodes a voltage-gated potassium channel, and I discovered that it happens to be only maternally expressed. This is regulated by KCNQ1OT1, a non-coding RNA, which is ...
1
vote
0answers
28 views
If a receptor is inhibited throughout embryogenesis, could there be observable phenotypic differences in the adult?
So I read a journal article entitled "Maternal hypoxia and caffeine exposure depress fetal CV function during primary organogenesis" (Momoi, et al., 2012) and in essence the article speaks of the ...
