Epigenetics and Metabolism

Modifications of the chromatin fibre, such as the methylation of DNA or the acetylation of histones, are commonly referred to as epigenetic marks. These marks are understood as a way of storing information – of ‘bookmarking’ the genome so the cell remembers which genes to read. However, these processes are intimately tied to metabolism, as they both consume and produce metabolites which tie in to the wider metabolic network of the cell. Despite studies about how metabolism affects this ‘bookmarking’, to what extent the massive scale of these processes affects metabolism in turn is little understood or appreciated. We aim to investigate these other functions and impacts of epigenetic processes, especially histone methylation. Taking advantage of the abundance of massive biological datasets available, we employ an interdisciplinary approach, combining computational analyses for discovery and hypothesis formation with experimental validation in different ex