methylation

Transposons may be key players in how tumors develop and spread, but they also keep cancer at bay in some circumstances.

The antidepressant properties of hallucinogenic drugs may stem from their ability to bind to intracellular serotonin receptors, a study suggests.

An engineered methylation pattern persisted for four generations of mice, demonstrating transgenerational epigenetic inheritance can occur in mammals.

Although epigenetic changes were long thought to largely act on the genome, rather than as part of it, research is now showing that these patterns can, directly or indirectly, change the genetic code.

Evidence is mounting that epigenetic marks on DNA can influence future generations in a variety of ways. But how such phenomena might affect large-scale evolutionary processes is hotly debated.

Epigenetic events, such as methylation, during early brain development in mice occur in genomic regions associated with BMI in humans, according to a new study.

Some studies suggest that associations between the health of children and the experiences of their parents or grandparents may be due to epigenetic mechanisms, but confounding factors challenge this interpretation.

The concept of epigenetic inheritance has long been controversial. Some researchers hope that new data on cross-generational effects of environmental exposures will help settle the debate.

A pair of new studies finds that analyzing material from a Pap smear can reveal tumor risk in distant parts of the body, potentially allowing early interventions.

Smoking during pregnancy changes marks on placental DNA, altering its responses to environmental stressors.

In mice, epigenetic marks made on histones during infancy influence depression-like behavior during adulthood. A drug that reverses the genomic tags appears to undo the damage.

Cells found in different branches of a tree have different patterns of DNA methylation, changes in which accumulate over time.

Female mice modeling the hormonal disorder can pass symptoms down for several generations, likely via changes in genome methylation that are similarly observed in women with PCOS.