Posts tagged epigenetic
Addicted cancers
Jun 9th
Most people know that smoking is a hard habit to kick because smokers become addicted to the nicotine and habit. Equally sad is the tendency of young adolescents to start smoking for social and psychological reasons.
In a turn-around of sorts, it may be comforting to know that cancers can become addicted, too. Cancer cells have many different genetic changes, as well as changes in the expression of genes that are not due to mutations called epigenetic changes. Although cancer cells do have many differences from normal cells, they are still very similar to normal cells, making it very difficult to More >
Mixed-up Nomenclature?
Jan 20th
An article in the December 24, 2009 issue of Molecular Cell, “A Reconfigured Pattern of MLL Occupancy within Mitotic Chromatin Promotes Rapid Transcriptional Reactivation Following Mitotic Exit,” had me thinking how misleading genes and proteins are often named. The publication details the function of a protein, Mixed Leukemia Lineage (MLL), which attaches to DNA prior to cell division. MLL “bookmarks” genes that need to be expressed immediately after the cell divides. The protein’s function is not, however, to cause leukemia. Its name – Mixed Lineage Leukemia – rather reflects the story of its discovery as it was found during research into More >
