Gräff Johannes, Mansuy Isabelle M
Brain Research Institute, Medical Faculty of the University of Zürich and Department of Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, Switzerland.
Behav Brain Res. 2008 Sep 1;192(1):70-87. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2008.01.021. Epub 2008 Feb 12.
The epigenetic marking of chromatin provides a ubiquitous means for cells to shape and maintain their identity, and to react to environmental stimuli via specific remodeling. Such an epigenetic code of the core components of chromatin, DNA and histone proteins, can thus be stable but is also highly dynamic. In the nervous system, epigenetic codes are critical for basic cellular processes such as synaptic plasticity, and for complex behaviours such as learning and memory. At the same time, epigenetic marks can be stably transmitted through mitosis and meiosis, and thereby underlie non-genomic transgenerational inheritance of behavioural traits. In this review, we describe recent findings on the role and mechanisms of epigenetic codes in the brain, and discuss their implication in synaptic plasticity, cognitive functions and psychiatric disorders. We provide examples of transgenerational inheritance of epigenetic marks that affect simple morphological traits or complex processes such as disease susceptibility, and point to the potential implication of epigenetic codes in medicine and evolution.
染色质的表观遗传标记为细胞塑造和维持其特性，以及通过特定重塑对环境刺激做出反应提供了一种普遍存在的方式。因此，这种由染色质的核心成分DNA和组蛋白构成的表观遗传密码可以是稳定的，但也具有高度的动态性。在神经系统中，表观遗传密码对于诸如突触可塑性等基本细胞过程以及诸如学习和记忆等复杂行为至关重要。同时，表观遗传标记可以通过有丝分裂和减数分裂稳定传递，从而成为行为特征非基因组跨代遗传的基础。在本综述中，我们描述了关于表观遗传密码在大脑中的作用和机制的最新发现，并讨论了它们在突触可塑性、认知功能和精神疾病中的意义。我们提供了影响简单形态特征或复杂过程（如疾病易感性）的表观遗传标记跨代遗传的例子，并指出表观遗传密码在医学和进化中的潜在意义。
