Open access publisher BioMed Central, US, has launched a new journal - Epigenetics and Chromatin. The journal seeks to help researchers at all levels to discuss the heritable changes that do not alter DNA sequence, but rather involve stable modifications of chromatin, DNA or protein conformation. Frank Grosveld of the Erasmus University Medical Center and Steven Henikoff of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center serve as Editors-in-Chief.
Epigenetics and Chromatin fulfills the need for a journal that reflects the breadth of epigenetic research. Topics include, but are not limited to, gene silencing and imprinting, cellular reprogramming, nucleosome modification assembly and remodeling, DNA methylation, chromatin structure and dynamics, chromosomal maintenance elements, dosage compensation, interchromosomal interactions and prion inheritance. Approaches that apply cutting-edge technologies to problems in the field are also welcome.
All articles published in the journal will be archived in PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and also in repositories at the University of Potsdam in Germany, at INIST in France and in e-Depot, the National Library of the Netherlands' digital archive of all electronic publications. The journal is also participating in the British Library's e-journals pilot project, and plans to deposit copies of all articles with the British Library.
Articles in the first issue exemplify the type of high quality research that the journal will publish. A study by Elizabeth Blackburn, John Sedat and colleagues applies new methodology for 4D imaging to document a previously undescribed behaviour of human telomeres. Another study by Neil Brockdorff and colleagues provides a comprehensive answer to a long-standing question of the role of the RNAi pathway in X inactivation.
