a Department of Pathology , University of Otago , P.O. Box 4345, Christchurch , New Zealand.
b Department of Psychology , University of Canterbury , Christchurch , New Zealand.
Nutr Neurosci. 2018 Nov;21(9):602-613. doi: 10.1080/1028415X.2017.1331524. Epub 2017 May 29.
Many aspects of human development and disease are influenced by the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Understanding how our genes respond to the environment is central to managing health and disease, and is one of the major contemporary challenges in human genetics. Various epigenetic processes affect chromosome structure and accessibility of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to the enzymatic machinery that leads to expression of genes. One important epigenetic mechanism that appears to underlie the interaction between environmental factors, including diet, and our genome, is chemical modification of the DNA. The best understood of these modifications is methylation of cytosine residues in DNA. It is now recognized that the pattern of methylated cytosines throughout our genomes (the 'methylome') can change during development and in response to environmental cues, often with profound effects on gene expression. Many dietary constituents may indirectly influence genomic pathways that methylate DNA, and there is evidence for biochemical links between nutritional quality and mental health. Deficiency of both macro- and micronutrients has been associated with increased behavioural problems, and nutritional supplementation has proven efficacious in treatment of certain neuropsychiatric disorders. In this review we examine evidence from the fields of nutrition, developmental biology, and mental health that supports dietary impacts on epigenetic processes, particularly DNA methylation. We then consider whether such processes could underlie the demonstrated efficacy of dietary supplementation in treatment of mental disorders, and whether targeted manipulation of DNA methylation patterns using controlled dietary supplementation may be of wider clinical value.
人类的发育和疾病的许多方面都受到遗传和环境因素相互作用的影响。了解我们的基因如何对环境做出反应是管理健康和疾病的核心，也是人类遗传学当代面临的主要挑战之一。各种表观遗传过程会影响染色体结构和脱氧核糖核酸（DNA）的可及性，从而影响导致基因表达的酶机制。一种似乎是环境因素（包括饮食）与我们的基因组相互作用的重要表观遗传机制是 DNA 的化学修饰。这些修饰中被理解得最好的是 DNA 中胞嘧啶残基的甲基化。现在人们认识到，我们基因组中整个甲基化胞嘧啶的模式（“甲基组”）可以在发育过程中以及对环境线索的反应中发生变化，通常对基因表达有深远的影响。许多膳食成分可能会间接影响甲基化 DNA 的基因组途径，并且有证据表明营养质量与心理健康之间存在生化联系。宏观和微量营养素的缺乏都与行为问题的增加有关，并且营养补充已被证明对某些神经精神疾病的治疗有效。在这篇综述中，我们检查了来自营养、发育生物学和心理健康领域的证据，这些证据支持饮食对表观遗传过程的影响，特别是 DNA 甲基化。然后，我们考虑这些过程是否可以解释饮食补充在治疗精神障碍方面的有效性，以及是否可以通过使用受控饮食补充来有针对性地操纵 DNA 甲基化模式来获得更广泛的临床价值。
