Team:Penn/Project2
From 2013.igem.org
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- | + | <p> In particular, DNA methylation has been | |
shown to alter transcriptional activity in a powerful, heritable manner. Abnormal methylation | shown to alter transcriptional activity in a powerful, heritable manner. Abnormal methylation | ||
patterns are associated with diseases including immunodeficiency syndromes, neurodevelopmental | patterns are associated with diseases including immunodeficiency syndromes, neurodevelopmental |
Revision as of 00:52, 11 August 2013
Abstract
The code of life is much more than a sequence of A's, G's, C's and T's; a suite of epigenetic mechanisms, ranging from chromatin remodeling to non-coding RNAs, affect gene expression and cellular function.
In particular, DNA methylation has been shown to alter transcriptional activity in a powerful, heritable manner. Abnormal methylation patterns are associated with diseases including immunodeficiency syndromes, neurodevelopmental disorders, and many types of cancer. Comprehensive understanding and control of DNA methylation could be invaluable to researchers studying these diseases.
Synthetic biologists and geneticists are accustomed to turning genes on and off at will, but the tools don’t exist to easily manipulate epigenetic patterns. We are developing a novel fusion protein that enables site-specific methylation, which can repress promoter activity with high precision.