Epigenetics, Chromatin & DNA methylation

10 important questions on Epigenetics, Chromatin & DNA methylation

What happens if the epigenetic regulation goed wrong?

  1. Disturbed development of an organism
  2. dienares such as cancer
  3. (trans)gene silencing
  4. faster aging

Name the chromatin and epigenetic mechanism

  1. DNA methylation
  2. histone modification
    • acetylation
    • methylation
    • phosphorylation
    • ubiquitylation
  3. histone variants
  4. non-coding RNAs

What causes genes to be active in some cells and inactive in others?

Sequence-specific TFs and chromatin remodeling proteins mediate transition from one to the other state
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Why are model systems used to study chromatin-based & epigenetic mechanisms?

Principles of chromatin/epigenetic mechanisms are evolutionary conserved to a large extent. Therefore, well-known model systems with small genomes are often used to study chromatin-based & epigenetic mechanisms

Why are histone levels low at active TTS?

At active TSS general TFS and RNA pol need space to bind, nucleasome are removed upon activation of a TSS, thereby histone levels are low at TSS

How does DNA methylation repress transcription activity?

5mC affects protein binding to major groove
  • blocking the binding of transcription factors
  • by recruiting DNA methyl-binding proteins

What does a typical DNA methylation landscape look like in mammals?


  • Transposable elements and protein-coding regions  have DNA methylation
  • CpG rich ‘islands’/Promoters/TSSs are unmethylated

What are the methods to detect DNA methylation?

Specific regions:
  • DNA blot analysis (methylation sensitive restriction enzymes)
  • qPCR
  • bisulfite sequencing


Genome-wide
  • immunolabeling with antibodies against 5mC
  • IP using a 5mC antibody with microarray or sequencing
  • sequencing DNA methylation-enriched libraries
  • genome-wide bisulfite sequencing

What are the targets of 5mC in animal and plant?

Animal: C in 5' -CG- 3' context
plants: CG, CHG (symmetric) and CHH (assymentric)

Why is transposon activity inactive?

To avoid insertional mutagenesis and recombination

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