Huntington's disease is a late-onset neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG
trinucleotide repeat in the gene encoding the huntingtin protein. Despite its well-defined …

The enzyme Dicer is best known for its role as a riboendonuclease in the small RNA
pathway. In this canonical role, Dicer is a critical regulator of the biogenesis of microRNA …

DNA methylation is a crucial epigenetic modification of the genome that is involved in
regulating many cellular processes. These include embryonic development, transcription …

In human cells, nucleic acids adopt several non-canonical structures that regulate key
cellular processes. Among them, G-quadruplexes (G4s) are stable structures that form in …

Nearly 30 hereditary disorders in humans result from an increase in the number of copies of
simple repeats in genomic DNA. These DNA repeats seem to be predisposed to such …

Precise genetic and epigenetic spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression is critical for
proper brain development, function and circuitry formation in the mammalian central nervous …

G-rich sequences in DNA and RNA have a propensity to fold into stable secondary
structures termed G-quadruplexes. G-quadruplex forming sequences are widespread …

Epigenetic gene silencing is seen in several repeat-expansion diseases. In fragile X
syndrome, the most common genetic form of mental retardation, a CGG trinucleotide–repeat …

Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is an inherited neurodegenerative
disorder caused by the expansion of 55–200 CGG repeats in the 5′ UTR of FMR1. These …

Genetic causes for human disorders are being discovered at an unprecedented pace. A
growing subclass of disease-causing mutations involves changes in the epigenome or in the …