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Chromosomal inversions that relocate a limb enhancer establish patterns of asymmetric chromatin contacts, so-called architectural stripes, that result in ectopic gene expression and congenital limb phenotypes, according to a study in Nature Cell Biology.
A new technique named ChIA-Drop combines chromatin interaction analysis (ChIA) with droplet-based and barcode-linked high-throughput sequencing to capture multiplex chromatin interactions at the single-molecule level.
A study published in Nature reports the functional and structural characterization of CasX, an RNA-guided DNA endonuclease with potential for use as a new genome editing platform.
Comparing the microbiomes of great apes enables an evolutionary perspective on microbial communities. This approach is revealing not only new insights about humans and what differentiates us from our closest relatives but also the factors that influence microbiome composition and the ways in which microbiomes diverge.
Chromatin accessibility comprises the positions, compaction and dynamics of nucleosomes, as well as the occupancy of DNA by other proteins such as transcription factors. In this Review, the authors discuss diverse methods for characterizing chromatin accessibility, how accessibility is determined and remodelled in cells and the regulatory roles of accessibility in gene expression and development.
The maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) is the process by which the transcriptionally silent embryonic genome is gradually activated. The mechanisms underlying the MZT are not fully understood, but recent work indicates that transcriptional activators have an important role.
Disruption of genomic imprinting can lead to disease. Recent studies suggest that interactions between the genome, the epigenome and the environment in germ cells and early embryos have an impact on developmental outcomes and on the heritability of imprinting disorders.
