Department of Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Trends Genet. 2018 Jan;34(1):54-64. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2017.09.012. Epub 2017 Nov 2.
Epigenetic mechanisms can stably maintain gene expression states even after the initiating conditions have changed. Often epigenetic information is transmitted only to daughter cells, but evidence is emerging, in both vertebrate and invertebrate systems, for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI), the transmission of epigenetic gene regulatory information across generations. Each new description of TEI helps uncover the properties, molecular mechanisms and biological roles for TEI. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been particularly instrumental in the effort to understand TEI, as multiple environmental and genetic triggers can initiate an epigenetic signal that can alter the expression of both transgenes and endogenous loci. Here, we review recent studies of TEI in C. elegans.
表观遗传机制可以在起始条件发生变化后稳定地维持基因表达状态。通常情况下,表观遗传信息仅传递给子细胞,但越来越多的证据表明,在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物系统中,存在跨代表观遗传遗传(TEI),即表观遗传基因调控信息在代际间的传递。每一个对 TEI 的新描述都有助于揭示 TEI 的特性、分子机制和生物学作用。秀丽隐杆线虫是一种线虫,它在理解 TEI 方面特别有用,因为多种环境和遗传触发因素可以引发一个表观遗传信号,从而改变转基因和内源性基因座的表达。在这里,我们回顾了秀丽隐杆线虫中 TEI 的最新研究。