Week 7 Flashcards
Is there a relationship between organism complexity and gene number?
There is a non-correlational relationship
What is epigenetics?
The study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work
Is there a Nobel Prize for genetics?
Svante Pääbo won the 2022 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his pioneering work in deciphering the genetics of our hominid relatives, Neandertals and Denisovans
What is the Waddington landscape?
A visual metaphor for the development of multicellular organisms
What does the regulation of gene expression involve?
A wide range of mechanisms that are used by cells to increase or decrease the production of specific gene products
What is chromatin?
A mixture of DNA and proteins that form the chromosomes found in the cells of humans and other higher organisms
What is the epigenetic code?
It describes the way in which the potential for expression of genes in a particular cell type is specified by chromatin modifications put in place at an earlier stage of differentiation
How does chromatin relate to epigenetics?
Epigenetic processes control gene expression by altering chromatin structure
What is the hypoxia-inducible factor?
A heterodimeric transcription factor governing a transcriptional program in response to reduced O2 availability in metazoans
What does HIF contribute to?
Physiology and pathogenesis of many human diseases through its downstream target genes
At what level does epigenetics occur?
Epigenetic processes, including DNA methylation, histone modification and various RNA-mediated processes, are thought to influence gene expression chiefly at the level of transcription; however, other steps in the process (for example, translation) may also be regulated epigenetically
What is Hi-C?
A genome-wide chromatin conformation capture protocol that uses proximity ligation
What does DNA methylation play a pivitol role in?
Many biological procedures such as gene expression, embryonic development, cellular proliferation, differentiation and chromosome stability
What is aberrant DNA methylation associated with?
Loss of DNA homeostasis and genomic instability leading to development of human diseases such as cancer
What does the importance of DNA methylation create?
An urgent demand for effective methods with highly sensitivity and reliability to explore innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies
What as bisulfite genetic sequencing recognised as?
A revolution in DNA methylation analysis based on conversion of genomic DNA by using sodium bisulfite
What is ATAC-Seq?
The assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing (ATAC-Seq) is a popular method for determining chromatin accessibility across the genome
What is the function of ChIP-Seq?
Identifies the binding sites of DNA-associated proteins and can be used to map global binding sites for a given protein
What is the advantage of single cell technology?
Compared with traditional sequencing technology, single-cell technologies have the advantages of detecting heterogeneity among individual cells, distinguishing a small number of cells, and delineating cell maps
Which transcription factors are involved in epigenetics?
Histone modifications, DNA methylation and RNA-mediated silencing are well defined, DNA-independent epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene expression
Where does the epigenetic landscape play a crucial role in?
Cellular adaptation, as it integrates the information generated from stimuli
What are signalling pathways induced?
By stimuli communicate with chromatin to change the epigenetic landscape through regulation of epigenetic modifiers
What do altered metabolic dynamics effect?
The activity of epigenetic modifiers
What can epigenetic reprogramming increase?
The susceptibility to many diseases in adulthood