Fojtová Miloslava, Fajkus Jiří
Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) and Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
Cytogenet Genome Res. 2014;143(1-3):125-35. doi: 10.1159/000360775. Epub 2014 Apr 1.
As chromatin structures, telomeres undergo epigenetic regulation of their maintenance and function. In plants, these processes are likely of a higher complexity than in animals or yeasts, as exemplified by methylation of cytosines in plant telomeric DNA or reversible developmental regulation of plant telomerase. We highlight the dual role of telomeres from the epigenetic point of view: (i) as chromatin structures that are the subject of epigenetic regulation (e.g. DNA and histone modifications), and (ii) as chromosome domains acting themselves as epigenetic regulatory elements (e.g. in the telomere position effect). Possibly, some molecular tools (e.g. telomeric transcripts) are common to both these aspects of telomere epigenetics. We further discuss the justification for the classical textbook view of telomeres as heterochromatic structures.
作为染色质结构，端粒在其维持和功能方面受到表观遗传调控。在植物中，这些过程可能比在动物或酵母中更为复杂，例如植物端粒DNA中胞嘧啶的甲基化或植物端粒酶的可逆发育调控。我们从表观遗传学角度强调端粒的双重作用：（i）作为表观遗传调控的对象的染色质结构（例如DNA和组蛋白修饰），以及（ii）作为自身充当表观遗传调控元件的染色体结构域（例如在端粒位置效应中）。可能某些分子工具（例如端粒转录本）在端粒表观遗传学的这两个方面都很常见。我们进一步讨论了将端粒视为异染色质结构的经典教科书观点的合理性。
