McGill Genome Centre

Altered sperm DNA methylation provides an epigenetic route from overweight and older men to intergenerational disease transmission

The occurrence of childhood neurodevelopmental disorders has been steadily increasing for decades, yet we have little understanding of modes of inheritance implicated in these diseases. Epidemiology studies have revealed an association between an elevated paternal Body Mass Index...

Slow Frontal Spindle Activity and Declarative Memory Retention During Daytime Naps

ABSTRACT Memory consolidation refers to how newly encoded memories are strengthened and retained over time, and ample evidence indicates that sleep supports this process for both procedural and declarative memories. Although sleep spindles during non‐rapid eye movement (NREM) sle...

Phylogeny and ecosystem jointly shape metabolite sensing by structured noncoding RNAs

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) regulate gene expression through diverse structural and sequence-based mechanisms, often acting without protein intermediates. Riboswitches are cis-regulatory ncRNAs that directly sense small molecule metabolites to control gene expression. Many riboswitc...

The gene-regulatory evolution of the human skeleton

Abstract Skeletal modifications were central to human evolution, enabling adaptations for bipedalism, large cranial vaults and childbirth 1 . Despite their importance, the genetic changes that gave rise to the unique human form remain mostly unknown 2 . Here we systematically map...

SPEF1 mediates assembly of central pair microtubule complexes in cilia of Tetrahymena

SPEF1 is a conserved calponin-homology domain protein that decorates the seam of central pair microtubules in the distal segment of motile cilia. Here, we show that in the ciliate Tetrahymena, loss of SPEF1 disrupts the central pair throughout the middle segment, which comprises...

Integrative plasma proteomic network analysis identifies physical activity-associated protein modules potentially mediating type 2 diabetes risk

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Identifying protein modules that mediate this association may help dissect these biological underpinnings, but they remain incompletely characterized. We studied 28,842 diabetes-free UK Bioban...