New method facilitates identification of cell-type specific genes in single-cell data

06-Jul-2022

The thousands of cells in a biological sample are all different and can be analyzed individually, cell by cell. Based on their gene activity, they can be sorted into clusters. But which genes are particularly characteristic of a given cluster, i.e. what are its “marker genes”? A new statistical ...

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Organoids that mimic human brain cortex in development and disease

27-Jun-2022

“Outer Radial Glia” (oRG) cells are nervous system stem cells that are instrumental for the development of the human cortex and have been challenging to produce in the lab. Now, a team of Max Planck researchers from Berlin succeeded in generating brain organoids that are enriched with these stem ...

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Epigenetic mechanisms for parent-specific genetic activation decoded

13-Jan-2022

Hereditary diseases as well as cancers and cardiovascular diseases may be associated with a phenomenon known as genomic imprinting, in which only the maternally or paternally inherited gene is active. An international research team involving scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), ...

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How much tissue-specific information is contained in enhancer sequences?

02-Dec-2021

How do cells know when to activate a certain gene? This information is encoded in the sequence of the DNA, but our understanding of this code is incomplete. Researchers now tested how much information can be extracted from sequence data to predict which gene is active in which tissue. A good ...

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Methyltransferase Dnmt1 is not only responsible for maintenance

07-Jul-2021

Often, biology will not fit into clear-cut categories. In a recent publication, an enzyme to which researchers had previously assigned a distinct task is stepping outside its box. It not only maintains the epigenetic state of the genome, but can also specifically silence additional DNA segments ...

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3D cell culturing technique could replace mouse embryos

14-Dec-2020

By growing mouse stem cells in a special gel, a Berlin research team succeeded to grow structures similar to parts of an embryo. The trunk-like structures develop the precursors for neural, bone, cartilage and muscle tissues from cellular clumps within five days. This could allow the ...

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Elucidation of basic mechanism to initiate the inactivation of X chromosomes in female organisms

10-Apr-2019

A large number of genes have to be switched on or off at different times during development. A particular challenge occurs when two copies of the same gene must acquire opposing states of activation within the same cell, as it is the case, for example, for the two X chromosomes in the female ...

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