Epigenetics Comes of Age

On may 14, 2010, a group of researchers from Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland and Universität Heidelberg, Germany reported that in response to light, as well as in response to synaptic stimulation in hippocampal and cortical neurons, retinal neurons upregulate synthesis of the miR-183/96/182 cluster, miR-204, and miR211. This is another experimental example of the neural control of gene expression. These results add to the abundant volume of empirical evidence on the role of the nervous system in regulating gene expression. and in response to synaptic stimulation in hippocampal and cortical neurons. (more…)