Department of Pediatrics, Division of Nephrology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Semin Nephrol. 2010 Sep;30(5):468-76. doi: 10.1016/j.semnephrol.2010.07.004.
An epigenetic trait is a stably inherited phenotype resulting from changes in a chromosome without alterations in the DNA sequence. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, together with covalent modification of histones, are thought to alter chromatin density and accessibility of the DNA to cellular machinery, thereby modulating the transcriptional potential of the underlying DNA sequence. As environmental changes influence epigenetic marks, epigenetics provides an added layer of variation that might mediate the relationship between genotype and internal and external environmental factors. Integration of our knowledge in genetics, epigenomics, and genomics with the use of systems biology tools may present investigators with new, powerful tools to study many complex human diseases such as kidney disease.
表观遗传特征是一种稳定遗传的表型，源于染色体的变化而不改变 DNA 序列。表观遗传修饰，如 DNA 甲基化，以及组蛋白的共价修饰，被认为可以改变染色质密度和 DNA 对细胞机制的可及性，从而调节潜在 DNA 序列的转录潜能。由于环境变化会影响表观遗传标记，因此表观遗传学提供了一个额外的变异层，可能介导基因型与内部和外部环境因素之间的关系。将我们在遗传学、表观基因组学和基因组学方面的知识与系统生物学工具的使用相结合，可能为研究人员提供新的、强大的工具，以研究许多复杂的人类疾病，如肾脏疾病。
