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Image by Nik Spencer/Nature
Scientists have created new maps of the human epigenome that may help unravel the complex links between DNA and disease.
Researchers supported by the Common Fund’s Epigenomics Program have mapped the epigenomes of more than 100 types of cells and tissues, providing new insight into which parts of the genome are used to make a particular type of cell.
The group published an article describing the epigenome maps in the journal Nature.
Twenty-three additional papers in Nature Publishing Group journals show how these maps can be used to study human biology.
The papers are available on Nature’s Epigenome Roadmap site.
For the Roadmap Epigenomics Project, scientists compared epigenomic signatures and established their differences across a variety of cell types. The resulting information may help us understand how changes to the genome and epigenome can lead to cancers and other conditions.
“These 111 reference epigenome maps are essentially a vocabulary book that helps us decipher each DNA segment in distinct cell and tissue types,” said Bing Ren, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego.
For cancer research, the new data will hasten a merging of genomic and epigenomic perspectives that was already underway, according to Joseph F. Costello, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco.
“You’ve had cancer researchers studying the genome—the role of mutations, deletions, and so on—and others studying epigenomes,” Dr Costello said. “They’ve almost been working on parallel tracks, and they didn’t talk to each other all that much.”
“Over the past 5 or 6 years, there’s been a reframing of the discussion, because the most recurrent mutations in cancer affect epigenomic regulators. So the way mutations in the genome play out is through epigenomic mechanisms, and major pharmaceutical companies now view epigenomes as an important target.” 
to the Epigenome Roadmap
Image by Nik Spencer/Nature
Scientists have created new maps of the human epigenome that may help unravel the complex links between DNA and disease.
Researchers supported by the Common Fund’s Epigenomics Program have mapped the epigenomes of more than 100 types of cells and tissues, providing new insight into which parts of the genome are used to make a particular type of cell.
The group published an article describing the epigenome maps in the journal Nature.
Twenty-three additional papers in Nature Publishing Group journals show how these maps can be used to study human biology.
The papers are available on Nature’s Epigenome Roadmap site.
For the Roadmap Epigenomics Project, scientists compared epigenomic signatures and established their differences across a variety of cell types. The resulting information may help us understand how changes to the genome and epigenome can lead to cancers and other conditions.
“These 111 reference epigenome maps are essentially a vocabulary book that helps us decipher each DNA segment in distinct cell and tissue types,” said Bing Ren, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego.
For cancer research, the new data will hasten a merging of genomic and epigenomic perspectives that was already underway, according to Joseph F. Costello, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco.
“You’ve had cancer researchers studying the genome—the role of mutations, deletions, and so on—and others studying epigenomes,” Dr Costello said. “They’ve almost been working on parallel tracks, and they didn’t talk to each other all that much.”
“Over the past 5 or 6 years, there’s been a reframing of the discussion, because the most recurrent mutations in cancer affect epigenomic regulators. So the way mutations in the genome play out is through epigenomic mechanisms, and major pharmaceutical companies now view epigenomes as an important target.”
to the Epigenome Roadmap
Image by Nik Spencer/Nature
Scientists have created new maps of the human epigenome that may help unravel the complex links between DNA and disease.
Researchers supported by the Common Fund’s Epigenomics Program have mapped the epigenomes of more than 100 types of cells and tissues, providing new insight into which parts of the genome are used to make a particular type of cell.
The group published an article describing the epigenome maps in the journal Nature.
Twenty-three additional papers in Nature Publishing Group journals show how these maps can be used to study human biology.
The papers are available on Nature’s Epigenome Roadmap site.
For the Roadmap Epigenomics Project, scientists compared epigenomic signatures and established their differences across a variety of cell types. The resulting information may help us understand how changes to the genome and epigenome can lead to cancers and other conditions.
“These 111 reference epigenome maps are essentially a vocabulary book that helps us decipher each DNA segment in distinct cell and tissue types,” said Bing Ren, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego.
For cancer research, the new data will hasten a merging of genomic and epigenomic perspectives that was already underway, according to Joseph F. Costello, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco.
“You’ve had cancer researchers studying the genome—the role of mutations, deletions, and so on—and others studying epigenomes,” Dr Costello said. “They’ve almost been working on parallel tracks, and they didn’t talk to each other all that much.”
“Over the past 5 or 6 years, there’s been a reframing of the discussion, because the most recurrent mutations in cancer affect epigenomic regulators. So the way mutations in the genome play out is through epigenomic mechanisms, and major pharmaceutical companies now view epigenomes as an important target.”