Eye Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
J Cell Physiol. 2014 Jul;229(7):825-33. doi: 10.1002/jcp.24522.
Epigenetics is an emerging field in ophthalmology and has opened a new avenue for understanding ocular development and ocular diseases related to aging and environment. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, and deployment of non-coding RNAs, result in the heritable silencing of gene expression without any change in DNA sequence. Accumulating evidence suggests a potential link between gene expression, chromatin structure, non-coding RNAs, and cellular differentiation during ocular development. Disruption of the balance of epigenetic networks could become the etiology of several ocular diseases. Here, we summarized the current knowledge about epigenetic regulatory mechanisms in ocular development and diseases.
表观遗传学是眼科学的一个新兴领域，为理解眼部发育以及与衰老和环境相关的眼部疾病开辟了新途径。表观遗传机制包括 DNA 甲基化、组蛋白修饰、染色质重塑和非编码 RNA 的排布，导致基因表达的可遗传沉默，而 DNA 序列没有任何变化。越来越多的证据表明，在眼部发育过程中，基因表达、染色质结构、非编码 RNA 和细胞分化之间存在潜在联系。表观遗传网络平衡的破坏可能成为几种眼部疾病的病因。在这里，我们总结了目前关于眼部发育和疾病中表观遗传调控机制的知识。
