Centro de Estudios Científicos, Valdivia 5110466, Chile.
Fundación Cultura Científica, Valdivia 5112119, Chile.
Neural Plast. 2019 Jul 14;2019:5982625. doi: 10.1155/2019/5982625. eCollection 2019.
The chromatin landscape has acquired deep attention from several fields ranging from cell biology to neurological and psychiatric diseases. The role that DNA modifications have on gene expression regulation has become apparent in several physiological processes, and numerous efforts have been performed to establish a relationship between DNA modifications and physiological conditions, such as cognitive performance and aging. DNA modifications are incorporated by specific sets of enzymes-the writers-and the modified DNA-interacting partners-the readers-are ultimately responsible for maintaining a functional epigenetic landscape. Therefore, understanding how these epigenetic mediators-writers and readers-are modulated in physiological aging will contribute to unraveling how aging-associated neuronal disturbances arise and contribute to the cognitive decline associated with this period of life. In this review, we focused on DNA modifications, writers and readers, highlighting that despite some methodological disparities, the evidence suggests a critical role for epigenetic mediators in the aging-associated neuronal dysfunction.
染色质景观从细胞生物学到神经和精神疾病等多个领域引起了广泛关注。DNA 修饰在基因表达调控中的作用在许多生理过程中已经变得明显，并且已经做出了许多努力来建立 DNA 修饰与生理状况（如认知表现和衰老）之间的关系。DNA 修饰是由特定的酶组（写作者）进行整合的，而与修饰 DNA 相互作用的伙伴（读者）最终负责维持功能表观遗传景观。因此，了解这些表观遗传介质（写作者和读者）在生理衰老过程中是如何被调节的，将有助于揭示与衰老相关的神经元紊乱是如何产生的，并有助于解释与人生这个阶段相关的认知能力下降的原因。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了 DNA 修饰、写作者和读者，强调尽管存在一些方法学差异，但有证据表明，表观遗传介质在与衰老相关的神经元功能障碍中起着关键作用。
