Move over, A, G, C and T. The alphabet of epigenetic DNA modifications keeps getting longer.
A year ago, we described research on previously unseen information in the genetic code using this metaphor:
Imagine reading an entire book, but then realizing that your glasses did not allow you to distinguish “g†from “q.†What details did you miss?
Geneticists faced a similar problem with the recent discovery of a “sixth nucleotide†in the DNA alphabet. Two modifications of cytosine, one of the four bases http://www.raybani.com/ that make up DNA, look almost the same but mean different things. But scientists lacked a way of reading DNA, letter by letter, and detecting precisely where these modifications are found in particular tissues or cell types.
Now, a team… has developed and tested a technique to accomplish this task.
Well, Emory geneticist Peng Jin and his collaborator Chuan He at the University of Chicago are at it again.