Competition for H2A.Z underlies the developmental impacts of repetitive element de-repression.

The histone variant H2A.Z is central to early embryonic development, determining transcriptional competency through chromatin regulation of gene promoters and enhancers. In addition to genic loci, we find that H2A.

Impact of a Caffeine Restriction Policy on Inpatients With Schizophrenia: A Pre-Post Comparison Using Electronic Health Records.

Background/purpose: Caffeine is the most commonly used psychostimulant worldwide. Although its large intake is suspected to worsen psychotic symptoms because of increasing dopamine neurotransmission, schizophrenic patients are heavier caffeine consumers than the general population. This study aims to assess the impact of a caffeine restriction policy in a psychiatric hospital on patient psychopathology, hospitalization characteristics, and psychotropic prescribing patterns.

Anchor-based bisulfite sequencing determines genome-wide DNA methylation.

Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing (WGBS) is the current standard for DNA methylation profiling. However, this approach is costly as it requires sequencing coverage over the entire genome. Here we introduce Anchor-Based Bisulfite Sequencing (ABBS).

Paradoxical association of TET loss of function with genome-wide DNA hypomethylation.

Cancer genomes are characterized by focal increases in DNA methylation, co-occurring with widespread hypomethylation. Here, we show that TET loss of function results in a similar genomic footprint. Both 5hmC in wild-type (WT) genomes and DNA hypermethylation in -deficient genomes are largely confined to the active euchromatic compartment, consistent with the known functions of TET proteins in DNA demethylation and the known distribution of 5hmC at transcribed genes and active enhancers.

YAP and MRTF-A, transcriptional co-activators of RhoA-mediated gene expression, are critical for glioblastoma tumorigenicity.

The role of YAP (Yes-associated protein 1) and MRTF-A (myocardin-related transcription factor A), two transcriptional co-activators regulated downstream of GPCRs (G protein-coupled receptors) and RhoA, in the growth of glioblastoma cells and in vivo glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumor development was explored using human glioblastoma cell lines and tumor-initiating cells derived from patient-derived xenografts (PDX). Knockdown of these co-activators in GSC-23 PDX cells using short hairpin RNA significantly attenuated in vitro self-renewal capability assessed by limiting dilution, oncogene expression, and neurosphere formation. Orthotopic xenografts of the MRTF-A and YAP knockdown PDX cells formed significantly smaller tumors and were of lower morbidity than wild-type cells.