Gene length matters in neurons

Mark J Zylka; Jeremy M Simon; Benjamin D Philpot

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2015.03.059

Gene length matters in neurons

Neuron. 2015 Apr 22;86(2):353-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.03.059.

Authors

Mark J Zylka¹, Jeremy M Simon², Benjamin D Philpot²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, UNC Neuroscience Center, The Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7545, USA. Electronic address: zylka@med.unc.edu.
² Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, UNC Neuroscience Center, The Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7545, USA.

Abstract

A recent study by Gabel et al. (2015) found that Mecp2, the gene mutated in Rett syndrome, represses long (> 100 kb) genes associated with neuronal physiology and connectivity by binding to methylated CA sites in DNA. This study adds to a growing body of literature implicating gene length and transcriptional mechanisms in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Comment

MeSH terms

Animals
DNA Methylation / genetics*
Female
Humans
Male
Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein 2 / genetics*
Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein 2 / metabolism*
Mutation / genetics*
Rett Syndrome / genetics*

Substances

Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein 2

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding