This new single-cell technique can map epigenetic marks like DNA methylation across the whole genome at single-cell resolution. It has revealed significant variation in epigenetic marks between individual cells during development. The technique involves treating cellular DNA with bisulfite to show methylation mark locations via sequencing. This technique will help understand embryonic development and may enhance applications in cancer therapy and fertility treatment.

1. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY´S
FOLDING
Andrea Urrego Vásquez
Medicine student
3rd semester

2. FOLDING

3. FOLDING

4. INTRODUCTION
Mapping DNA is a technique useful to
define how epigenetic effects changes in
individual cells during early development,
and could enhance clinical applications in
cancer and fertility therapies.
Enhancers are the ones that controls gene´s
output by finding their targets before they
are activated during embryonic
developments.

5. Powerful single-cell technique
to study environmental effects on DNA
New technique maps life's effects on our
DNA: Powerful single-cell technique to study
environmental effects on DNA
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
(2014, July 20).
Researchers at the BBSRC-funded Babraham Institute, in
collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Single Cell Genomics Centre, have developed a powerful
new single-cell technique to help investigate how
epigenetic affects our cells, capable of analyzing DNA
methylation (one of the key epigenetic) marks, across the
whole genome

6. Powerful single-cell technique
to study environmental effects on DNA
• Current methods observe
epigenetic marks in groups of
cells. This can hide the
modifications happening in
individual cells during development
when each cell has the potential to
grow up in a unique way. The new
method has already revealed that
many of the methylation marks
that differ between individual cells
are precisely located in sites that
control gene activity.

7. • The method treats the cellular
DNA with a chemical called
bisulphite. Treated DNA is then
amplified and read on high-
throughput sequencing
machines to show up the
location of methylation marks
and the genes being affected.
• This exciting new method has
already given some remarkable
insights into how much variation
there is in the epigenetic
information in embryonic stem
cells.
Powerful single-cell technique
to study environmental effects on DNA

8. Powerful single-cell technique
to study environmental effects on DNA
This single-cell technique will approach
science to understand all of embryonic
development, and finally could enhance
clinical applications like cancer therapy
and fertility treatments.

9. Powerful single-cell technique
to study environmental effects on DNA
I think investigators should pursue
this technique to give us concrete
results in clinical application ,
cancer and fertility treatments, so
that way this technique will be
allowed in several laboratories as
well as a karyotype .

10. Unexpected stability and complexity in transcriptional
enhancers' interactions
Embryology: Unexpected stability and
complexity in transcriptional enhancers'
interactions
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).
(2014, July 3)
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology
Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany,
reveals that, the degree of complexity of
enhancers' interactions in the 'simple' fruit fly
Drosophila is comparable to what is seen in
vertebrates.

11. Unexpected stability and complexity in transcriptional
enhancers' interactions
To activate a gene, an enhancer
has to come into contact with
the portion of DNA at the start of
the gene its promoter. For
enhancers that are located far
away from their targets, the cell
achieves this by looping the
DNA around to bring about that
contact.

12. Unexpected stability and complexity in transcriptional
enhancers' interactions
• In developing fruit fly embryos, these DNA loops
are formed, contact is established, and the cell's
gene-reading machinery is recruited, hours before
the gene is expressed. The results indicate that the
whole system is primed in advance, ready to spring
to action when needed.
• When they looked at all the enhancers that are
known in Drosophila and mapped what genes they
establish contacts with, the EMBL scientists
discovered that these genetic regulators act across
long distances in the genome, and in complex
ways.

13. Unexpected stability and complexity in transcriptional
enhancers' interactions
For Furlong, Ghavi-Helm and colleagues, the
study opens up a lot of questions:
1. At what point in an embryo's life do
enhancer loops form?
2. How long after a gene has been switched
off do the loops remain?
3. If loop formation isn't the trigger for
gene activation, what is?
4. What's the exact role of the contacts
they have found?
5. Are all an enhancer's interactions are
happening at the same time in the same
cell?

14. Unexpected stability and complexity in transcriptional
enhancers' interactions
I think these project could be
important because if we can get closer
to know how enhancers act upon
genes expression and how long they
maintain a connection between the
genes will be near to discovered how
to work on those enhancers and
regulates the outputs of damaged
genes or the ones that causes
diseases.

15. MEDICAL UTILITY
These investigation will
have a huge impact on the
current medicine because,
it will push the
improvement of gene
therapy.

16. MEDICAL UTILITY
Genetic is one of the biggest medical
crossroads. With these advances in
science, medicine will be closer to
regulate the expression of damaged
genes and the consequences of
them.

17. MEDICAL UTILITY
The research about the function of
enhancer during embryonic
development will be very beneficial in
the future, because if the investigators
pursue and answer all the questions,
especially the one about how long the
enhancers keep a connection between
the gene after it is off?, for science
would be easier to work on those
enhancers related to several genes that
generates diseases before their
expression.

18. MEDICAL UTILITY
On the other hand these studies give us
a way of mapping cells during embryonic
developments or in adults, and know
which of those cells could be a potential
risk for the body in the future as a
consequence of epigenetic effects. These
bring us into a new era where gene
therapy will play and important roll on
how to treat and avoid diseases.

19. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). (2014, July 3). Embryology:
Unexpected stability and complexity in transcriptional enhancers' interactions.
ScienceDaily. Web, July 22, 2014.
• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. (2014, July 20). New
technique maps life's effects on our DNA: Powerful single-cell technique to study
environmental effects on DNA. ScienceDaily. Web, July 22, 2014 .