Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a type of small non-coding RNAs involved in the post-transcriptional repression of target mRNA transcripts, and responsible for the fine-tuning of numerous molecular ...

Complex diseases driven by gene-environment interactions impose a heavy burden on human and animal health. Addressing these challenges requires innovative research. The emerging field of historical epigenomics offers a promising opportunity to link genotypes with phenotypes using preserved biological material. New methods such as historical chromatin profiling in museum specimens provide valuable insights into vertebrate genome regulation. Building on successful work with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, we expect growing interest in using historical specimens for biomedical, evolutionary, and ecological research. Applied to historical collections, these tools can provide critical baselines for understanding modern diseases, environmental stressors, and human adaptation.

Dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus) are extinct predators of Pleistocene North America. Although phenotypically similar to living wolves (Canis lupus), dire wolves have yet to be placed confidently in the ca...

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ALT: a cartoon character with the number 9 on his back sits in front of a sunset over the ocean

The authors show that DNA methylation patterns in one tissue can inform on those in another, under certain conditions, and devise an algorithm that allows identification of differential DNA methylatio...

All cells must fold their chromosomes. The combined action of a small set of conserved molecular and biophysical mechanisms fold chromosomes in a variety of ways across the cell cycle and tree of life...

In this Review, Chen and Kim explore the exciting journey of discovering small and long non-coding RNAs. They also explain the current understanding as to how these RNAs are made, how they operate, an...

Genetic sequences from a museum specimen offer fresh clues about the physiology of thylacines, which went extinct in the 1930s.