Topic: histone modifications

Parkinson’s Disease (PD), the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, is based on a complex interplay between genetic predispositions, aging processes, and environmental influences. In order to better understand the gene-environment axis in PD, we pursue a multi-omics approach to comprehensively interrogate genome-wide changes in histone modifications, DNA methylation, and hydroxymethylation, accompanied by transcriptomic profiling in cell and animal models of PD as well as large patient cohorts. Furthermore, we assess the plasticity of epigenomic modifications under influence of envi

The establishment of effective therapies for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases is still challenging and one of the reasons is that especially for age-associated neurodegenerative diseases pathology accumulates long before there are any clinical signs of disease. Thus, patients are often only diagnosed at an already advanced state of molecular pathology, when causative therapies fail. Thus, there is an urgent need for molecular biomarkers that could detect individuals at risk for developing a CNS disease and stratify patients. I will address epigenetic processes such as histone-mo

The C-terminal binding protein 1 (CtBP1) is a ubiquitously expressed, dual-function protein. In the nucleus, it nucleates corepressor complexes that control chromatin-modification and gene expression. In the cytoplasm, it regulates membrane trafficking processes by controlling the membrane fission reaction. Our previous study revealed an involvement of CtBP1 in the control of neural activity‐regulated genes such as BDNF, Arc and Fos in the mature brain. Recently, individuals with a missense mutation in CTBP1 have been reported to have intellectual disability and neurodevelopmental problems. Th

In the past decade, an increasing number of studies have been focusing on identifying Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related epigenetic modifications, both in humans and mouse models. Recently, it has been shown that late-stage AD human samples show alterations in histone modifications, chromatin compartmentalisation, and chromatin structural protein localisation (Xiong et al., Cell, 2023). These changes collectively result in epigenome erosion. However, the mechanisms and the role of chromatin structural proteins underpinning this event remain unclear. Likewise, it remains uncertain whether cogniti

Brain aging is a relative process characterized by a progressive decline in homeostasis, stress responses and cognitive functions. At cellular level, it is associated with molecular markers such as telomere length and DNA methylation clocks, which are believed to capture different aspects of relative aging. Additionally, changes in histone modifications and gene transcription also occur. However, a complete description of epigenetic changes in middle- to old-aged brains is still missing. Here, we provide a comprehensive characterization of age-associated DNA methylation changes in the healthy