Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Division of Newborn Medicine, 61 Binney Street, Enders 908, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2013 Apr;14(4):211-24. doi: 10.1038/nrm3545.
Cells of a multicellular organism, all containing nearly identical genetic information, respond to differentiation cues in variable ways. In addition, cells are plastic, able to execute their specialized function while maintaining the ability to adapt to environmental changes. This is achieved through multiple mechanisms, including the direct regulation of chromatin-based processes in response to stimuli. How signal transduction pathways directly communicate with chromatin to change the epigenetic landscape is poorly understood. The preponderance of covalent modifications on histone tails coupled with a relatively small number of functional outputs raises the possibility that chromatin acts as a site of signal integration and storage.
多细胞生物的细胞都含有几乎相同的遗传信息，但它们对分化信号的反应方式却各不相同。此外，细胞具有可塑性，能够在执行其专门功能的同时，保持适应环境变化的能力。这是通过多种机制实现的，包括直接调节染色质相关过程以响应刺激。信号转导途径如何直接与染色质相互作用以改变表观遗传景观，目前还知之甚少。组蛋白尾部的共价修饰数量众多，而功能输出相对较少，这使得染色质有可能成为信号整合和存储的场所。
