Scientists Use Fruit Flies To Reveal Unknown Function Of A Transcriptional Regulator Of Development And Cancer
Historically, fly and human Polycomb proteins were considered textbook exemplars of transcriptional repressors, or proteins that silence the process by which DNA gives rise to new proteins. Now, work by a team of researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research challenges that dogma. In a cover story in the May 2012 issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology, Stowers Investigator Ali Shilatifard, Ph.D., and his team report that in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster a component of the Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which is called Jarid2, occasionally activates gene expression.
Epigenetic Cancer Pills Are Safe
A brand new type of epigenetic cancer pill has been deemed safe for use in a Phase I trial according to Clinical Cancer Research. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence, which refers to functionally relevant modifications to the genome that do not involve a change in the nucleotide sequence. Epigenetics play many different roles in nature, for instance the ability of a caterpillar to morph into a butterfly without changing its DNA.
Genetic Mutations Linked To Childhood Kidney Cancer
According to a study published in Nature Genetics, an international team of researchers have identified mutations in two regions of the genome that increase the risk of developing Wilms tumor. Wilms tumor is the most prevalent type of kidney cancer in children and usually develops before the age of five. The disease affects around 1 in 10, 000 children and has a 90% cure rate. In the majority of children researchers are unsure as to what causes the tumor although they know that genes play a role.