Evolution Research - General Evolution News

Bio.com's next InFocus Webcast, "Epigenetics: DNA Methylation in Cancer" is scheduled for Monday, August 21 at 11am PDT (also featured on bio.com's current front page). Free to all registered users.

DNA methylation represents an epigenetic means of inheritance without associated DNA sequence alterations. Though the function of DNA methylation is still not completely understood, roles have been proposed for control of gene expression, chromosomal integrity, and recombinational events. DNA methylation is particularly important in CpG islands within promotor regions as methylation is associated with transcriptional repression of the associated gene. Though DNA methylation patterns change during embryogenesis and development, they are thought to be relatively stable in the adult.

Aberrant CpG island methylation has been associated with changes observed in aging and neoplastic cells. A growing list of genes, including known tumor-suppressor genes, have been shown to have aberrant CpG island methylation in cancer. This 1 hour webcast will address the growing evidence for a pivitoal role of DNA methylation in oncogenesis as well as the methods being employed in this field of research.

technorati tags: webcast, epigenetics, dna, methylation, cancer, epigenetic, inheritance, gene+expression, promotor, regions, repression, patterns, development, cells, genes, research

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