Cardiac epigenomics
German scientists are mapping the epigenome of heart muscle cells
NanoNewsNet based on the materials of Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg:
Team Maps Epigenome of Cardiac Muscle CellScientists at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg have mapped the epigenome of cardiac muscle cells – cardiomyocytes.
They hope that this information will give a new look at the development of congenital heart defects and chronic heart failure. An article about the study (Gilsbach et al., Dynamic DNA methylation orchestrates cardiomyocyte development, maturation and disease) is published in the open access journal Nature Communications.
An epigenome is a set of epigenetic mechanisms that decide which genes of a cell are active and which are not. Changes in internal or external conditions, which, among other things, include nutrition, stress, taking medications, leave behind certain epigenetic patterns.
It is known that epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in the development of cancer, but their significance in the development of cardiovascular diseases is still unclear.
The heart is the first organ formed in a growing embryo, and it continuously supplies the entire body with oxygen and nutrients. The main responsibility for controlling the gene expression program is borne by the nucleus of the heart muscle cell.
A group of pharmacologists led by Ralf Gilsbach and Lutz Hein has developed a new method for isolating the nuclei of cardiac muscle cells from cardiac tissue consisting of various cell types. Applying the latest DNA sequencing method to isolated nuclei, the researchers compiled high–resolution maps of DNA methylation – one of the most important epigenetic mechanisms for regulating gene activity - as well as other epigenetic markers of all genes. This allowed them to identify epigenetic "switches" – triggers for switching programs of cardiac genes in the perinatal period and in chronic heart failure. Now the researchers want to improve their method in order to expand the scope of its application – to conduct an epigenetic analysis of the smallest biopsy tissue samples that can be obtained, for example, during diagnostic catheterization of the heart.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru31.10.2014