MBD-isolated Genome Sequencing provides a high-throughput and comprehensive survey of DNA methylation in the human genome

DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification involved in both normal developmental processes and disease states through the modulation of gene expression and the maintenance of genomic organization. Conventional methods of DNA methylation analysis, such as bisulfite sequencing, methylation sensitive restriction enzyme digestion and array-based detection techniques, have major limitations that impede high-throughput genome-wide analysis. We describe a novel technique, MBD-isolated Genome Sequencing (MiGS), which combines precipitation of methylated DNA by recombinant methyl-CpG binding domain of MBD2 protein and sequencing of the isolated DNA by a massively parallel sequencer. We utilized MiGS to study three isogenic cancer cell lines with varying degrees of DNA methylation. We successfully detected previously known methylated regions in these cells and identified hundreds of novel methylated regions. This technique is highly specific and sensitive and can be applied to any biological settings to identify differentially methylated regions at the genomic scale.     

Social blending and genetical blending

For many years now the study of more or less isolated populations has been carried out throughout the world.The population of Idelès has this particular characteristic of being recently formed. This is the sedentarisation of groups from the Sahara of various origins. As a result of their being few in number, the demographical means are powerless to reflect the evolution and rates of evolution of this population itself divided into socio-ethnic groups.The study of the probability of the origin of the genes allows to answer some questions in so far as it was possible to draw up genealogical trees which is impossible for a large population but quite feasible at Idelès.This survey shows that the mixing of the genes can be far greater than that of the ethnic aspects of sacro-cultural habits, and that genetic exchange, albeit small, remains, through their differences, one of the oldest exchanges between human groups.     

Autoanticorps anti-protéines “citrullinées” dans la polyarthrite rhumatoïde

En 1964, RLF Nienhuis et coll. [1] décrivaient, dans plus de deux tiers des sérums de patients atteints de polyarthrite rhumato?de (PR), des anticorps marquant en immunofluorescence indirecte des granules périnucléaires présents dans les cellules les plus superficielles de la muqueuse jugale humaine. Ces anticorps étaient appelés “facteur anti-périnucléaire” (antiperinuclear factor: APF) par analogie avec le “facteur” rhumato?de (FR) qui constituait alors l’unique marqueur biologique de la PR. Quinze ans plus tard, une équipe anglaise, BJJ Young et coll. [2] montrait qu’environ la moitié des patients atteints de PR présentait des anticorps circulants marquant en immunofluorescence indirecte la couche cornée de l’épithélium malpighien qui revêt l’œsophage de rat. Les kératines étant les protéines les plus abondantes et les mieux connues dans cette couche épithéliale, les auteurs appelaient ces anticorps “anti-kératine” (antikeratin antibodies: AKA), en l’absence de tout élément biochimique permettant d’affirmer la nature de l’antigène reconnu.