Epigenetic discovery suggests DNA modifications more diverse than previously thought

The world of epigenetics - where molecular 'switches' attached to DNA turn genes on and off - has just got bigger with the discovery by a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge of a new type of epigenetic modification. It's possible that we struck lucky with this modifier, but we believe it is more likely that there are many more modifications that directly regulate our DNA - Magdalena Koziol Published today , the discovery suggests that many more DNA modifications than previously thought may exist in human, mouse and other vertebrates. DNA is made up of four 'bases': molecules known as adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine - the A, C, G and'T letters. Strings of these letters form genes, which provide the code for essential proteins, and other regions of DNA, some of which can regulate these genes. Epigenetics (epi - the Greek prefix meaning 'on top of') is the study of how genes are switched on or off. It is thought to be one explanation for how our environment and behaviour, such as our diet or smoking habit, can affect our DNA and how these changes may even be passed down to our children and grandchildren. Epigenetics has so far focused mainly on studying proteins called histones that bind to DNA.