Epigenetics is the study of various heritable alterations that control gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. 1 The name epigenetics comes from the Greek prefix “epi”, which means on top ...

Not all genes are active at all times. DNA methylation is one of several epigenetic mechanisms that cells use to control gene expression. This straightforward experiment demonstrated that it was not ...

Scientists at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) have discovered a DNA-based “dimmer switch” that regulates the activity of a critical developmental gene, Cdx2. This work could pave the way ...

For decades, synthetic biologists have been developing gene circuits that can be transferred into cells for applications such as reprogramming a stem cell into a neuron or generating a protein that ...

Molecular biologists have long believed that the beginning of a gene launched the process of transcription—the process by which a segment of DNA is copied into RNA and then RNA helps make the proteins ...

A figure from the paper illustates a key finding of "compromised compartmentalization": chromatin that was locking genes down in health became more open in Alzheimer's, while chromatin that was open ...