In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Vladimir Teif from the University of Essex to talk about his work on nucleosome positioning in development and disease.

Vladimir's research has been pivotal in understanding nucleosome positioning and its implications for cell differentiation, particularly in embryonic stem cells and cancer. We discuss his groundbreaking studies that first mapped nucleosome positions in various cell types and how these findings led to uncovering the intricate relationships between nucleosome stability, transcription factors, and DNA modifications such as methylation. This understanding has immense significance for cancer diagnostics, where knowing the spatial arrangement of nucleosomes could influence how aggressive a cancer type might be, or how a patient might respond to treatment.

Transitioning from foundational research to clinical applications, Vladimir elaborates on his exciting work with liquid biopsies. By analyzing cell-free DNA from blood plasma, researchers can infer the nucleosome positioning and, ultimately, the presence of cancer without the need for invasive tissue biopsies. We explore how this new approach holds potential for earlier detection of cancers and more effective patient stratification, demonstrating a profound shift in how we leverage epigenetic data in clinical settings.

References

Vladimir B. Teif, Karsten Rippe, Predicting nucleosome positions on the DNA: combining intrinsic sequence preferences and remodeler activities, Nucleic Acids Research, Volume 37, Issue 17, 1 September 2009, Pages 5641–5655, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkp610

Teif, V., Vainshtein, Y., Caudron-Herger, M. et al. Genome-wide nucleosome positioning during embryonic stem cell development. Nat Struct Mol Biol 19, 1185–1192 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2419

Beshnova DA, Cherstvy AG, Vainshtein Y, Teif VB (2014) Regulation of the Nucleosome Repeat Length In Vivo by the DNA Sequence, Protein Concentrations and Long-Range Interactions. PLoS Comput Biol 10(7): e1003698. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003698

Shtumpf, M., Piroeva, K.V., Agrawal, S.P. et al. NucPosDB: a database of nucleosome positioning in vivo and nucleosomics of cell-free DNA. Chromosoma 131, 19–28 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-021-00766-9

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