Science Alert August 30, 2023 The epigenomes of hiPS cells and human embryonic stem (hES) cells differ significantly, which affects hiPS cell function. An international team of researchers (Australia, UK, Singapore) found that reprogramming-induced epigenetic aberrations to emerge midway through primed reprogramming, whereas DNA demethylation begins early in naive reprogramming. Using this they developed a transient-naive-treatment (TNT) reprogramming strategy that emulated the embryonic epigenetic reset. They showed that the epigenetic memory in hiPS cells is concentrated in cell of origin-dependent repressive chromatin. TNT reprogramming reconfigured these domains to a hES cell-like state and did not disrupt genomic imprinting correcting epigenetic […]
Tag Archives: Epigenetics
New study shows transmission of epigenetic memory across multiple generations
Phys.org September 26, 2022 Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have shown how a common type of epigenetic modification can be transmitted via sperm not only from parents to offspring, but to the next generation (“grand offspring”) as well. This “transgenerational epigenetic inheritance,” may explain how a person’s health and development could be influenced by the experiences of his or her parents and grandparents. They focused on epigenetic mark (called H3K27me3) in C. elegans. This mark is known to turn off or “repress” the affected genes. They selectively stripped the histone mark from the chromosomes of C. elegans sperm, which were […]
How plants leave behind their parents’ genomic baggage
Phys.org May 20, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – Cold Springs Harbor, Canada, France) discovered that after baby plants remove the epigenetic modifications, the SUVH9 protein puts back the ones they need to survive. Without SUVH9, plants develop poorly because the wrong genes turn on at the wrong time. The SUVH9 protein uses small snippets of RNA to look for the right places to reinstall the beneficial modifications, which are on mobile genetic elements known as transposons. The SUVH9 protein adds the epigenetic modifications to them, and this ensures nearby genes are turned off at the right time. […]