Saturday, March 1, 2014

Researchers develop a new technique for single cell to study the effects of the environment on the DNA

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Researchers develop a new technique for single cell to study the effects of the environment on the DNA -

Researchers at the Babraham Institute BBSRC-funded, in collaboration with the cell Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute genomics single center, have developed a unique new powerful cell technique to help investigate how the environment affects our development and the traits we inherit from our parents. The technique can be used to map the set of "epigenetic marks" on the DNA in a single cell. This unique approach cell will boost understanding of embryonic development, could improve clinical applications as therapeutic cancer treatments and fertility, and the potential to reduce the number of mice currently required for this search.

"epigenetic marks" are chemical tags or proteins that mark DNA and act as a kind of cellular memory. They do not change the DNA sequence, but store the experiences of one cell to the DNA, which allows cells to remember an experience long after it has disappeared. Place these tags is part of normal development; they say if genes being turned on or off and therefore can not determine how the cell develops. Different sets of active genes are different skin cell of a brain cell, for example. However, environmental cues such as diet may also change where epigenetic tags are attached to DNA and influence long-term health of an organism

Dr Gavin Kelsey, of the Babraham Institute, said, :. "The ability to capture the full map of these epigenetic marks of individual cells is essential for a complete understanding of early development, the growth of embryonic cancer and help the development of stem cell therapies.

" research epigenetics was mostly dependent on using the mouse as a model organism for studying early development. Our new unicellular method gives us an unprecedented ability to study the epigenetic processes in the human early embryonic development, which was limited by the very limited amount of tissue available for analysis "

the research, published in Nature Methods offers a new single cell technique capable of analyzing DNA methylation. - one epigenetic key brands - .. in the genome the method processes the cellular DNA with a chemical called bisulfite treated DNA is then amplified and read more high-throughput sequencing machines to show the location methylation marks and the affected genes.

These analyzes will help determine how epigenetic changes in individual cells in early development destiny drive cells. current methods observed epigenetic marks in multiple cells, grouped together. This can hide the changes that occur in individual cells at some point in development where each cell has the potential to form a unique way. The new method has already revealed that most of the methylation marks that differ between individual cells are specifically located in sites that control gene activity

Dr Gavin Kelsey, said :. "Our work provides a proof of principle for large scale epigenetic analysis a single cell is feasible to help us understand how epigenetic changes control embryonic development. the application of a single understanding of epigenetic approaches cell goes well beyond the basic biological research. future clinical applications could include the analysis of individual cancer cells to provide clinicians with information to tailor treatments and improvements in the treatment of fertility by understanding the potential of epigenetic errors in assisted reproductive technologies. "

Professor Wolf Reik, a founder of the cell Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute single Genomics Centre, added:" This exciting new method has already yielded some remarkable insights into how much variation it is in epigenetic information in embryonic stem cells. This may explain the enormous plasticity of these cells should develop into many different cell types in the body. "


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