The molecular hallmarks of epigenetic control.

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Abstract

Over the past 20 years, breakthrough discoveries of chromatin-modifying enzymes and associated mechanisms that alter chromatin in response to physiological or pathological signals have transformed our knowledge of epigenetics from a collection of curious biological phenomena to a functionally dissected research field. Here, we provide a personal perspective on the development of epigenetics, from its historical origins to what we define as 'the modern era of epigenetic research'. We primarily highlight key molecular mechanisms of and conceptual advances in epigenetic control that have changed our understanding of normal and perturbed development.

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Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation

Douglas Hanahan, Robert A. Weinberg (2011)

The hallmarks of cancer comprise six biological capabilities acquired during the multistep development of human tumors. The hallmarks constitute an organizing principle for rationalizing the complexities of neoplastic disease. They include sustaining proliferative signaling, evading growth suppressors, resisting cell death, enabling replicative immortality, inducing angiogenesis, and activating invasion and metastasis. Underlying these hallmarks are genome instability, which generates the genetic diversity that expedites their acquisition, and inflammation, which fosters multiple hallmark functions. Conceptual progress in the last decade has added two emerging hallmarks of potential generality to this list-reprogramming of energy metabolism and evading immune destruction. In addition to cancer cells, tumors exhibit another dimension of complexity: they contain a repertoire of recruited, ostensibly normal cells that contribute to the acquisition of hallmark traits by creating the "tumor microenvironment." Recognition of the widespread applicability of these concepts will increasingly affect the development of new means to treat human cancer. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Induction of pluripotent stem cells from mouse embryonic and adult fibroblast cultures by defined factors.

Kazutoshi Takahashi, Shinya Yamanaka (2006)

Differentiated cells can be reprogrammed to an embryonic-like state by transfer of nuclear contents into oocytes or by fusion with embryonic stem (ES) cells. Little is known about factors that induce this reprogramming. Here, we demonstrate induction of pluripotent stem cells from mouse embryonic or adult fibroblasts by introducing four factors, Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4, under ES cell culture conditions. Unexpectedly, Nanog was dispensable. These cells, which we designated iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells, exhibit the morphology and growth properties of ES cells and express ES cell marker genes. Subcutaneous transplantation of iPS cells into nude mice resulted in tumors containing a variety of tissues from all three germ layers. Following injection into blastocysts, iPS cells contributed to mouse embryonic development. These data demonstrate that pluripotent stem cells can be directly generated from fibroblast cultures by the addition of only a few defined factors.

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High-resolution profiling of histone methylations in the human genome.

Artem Barski, Suresh Cuddapah, Tae Hwan Roh … (2007)

Histone modifications are implicated in influencing gene expression. We have generated high-resolution maps for the genome-wide distribution of 20 histone lysine and arginine methylations as well as histone variant H2A.Z, RNA polymerase II, and the insulator binding protein CTCF across the human genome using the Solexa 1G sequencing technology. Typical patterns of histone methylations exhibited at promoters, insulators, enhancers, and transcribed regions are identified. The monomethylations of H3K27, H3K9, H4K20, H3K79, and H2BK5 are all linked to gene activation, whereas trimethylations of H3K27, H3K9, and H3K79 are linked to repression. H2A.Z associates with functional regulatory elements, and CTCF marks boundaries of histone methylation domains. Chromosome banding patterns are correlated with unique patterns of histone modifications. Chromosome breakpoints detected in T cell cancers frequently reside in chromatin regions associated with H3K4 methylations. Our data provide new insights into the function of histone methylation and chromatin organization in genome function.