Matouk Charles C, Marsden Philip A
Institute of Medical Sciences, St. Michael's Hospital and University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Circ Res. 2008 Apr 25;102(8):873-87. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.107.171025.
Epigenetics refers to chromatin-based pathways important in the regulation of gene expression and includes 3 distinct, but highly interrelated, mechanisms: DNA methylation, histone density and posttranslational modifications, and RNA-based mechanisms. Together, they offer a newer perspective on transcriptional control paradigms in vascular endothelial cells and provide a molecular basis for how the environment impacts the genome to modify disease susceptibility. This review provides an introduction to epigenetic concepts for vascular biologists. Using endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3) as an example, we examine the growing body of evidence implicating epigenetic pathways in the control of vascular endothelial gene expression in health and disease.
表观遗传学是指在基因表达调控中基于染色质的重要途径，包括3种不同但高度相关的机制：DNA甲基化、组蛋白密度和翻译后修饰以及基于RNA的机制。它们共同为血管内皮细胞转录控制模式提供了一个新的视角，并为环境如何影响基因组以改变疾病易感性提供了分子基础。本综述为血管生物学家介绍表观遗传学概念。以内皮型一氧化氮合酶（NOS3）为例，我们研究了越来越多的证据，这些证据表明表观遗传途径在健康和疾病状态下对血管内皮基因表达的控制中发挥作用。
