Laboratory of Visual Cell Differentiation and Regulation, Basic Medical College, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
Department of Pathophysiology, Basic Medical College, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
Int J Med Sci. 2020 May 23;17(10):1307-1314. doi: 10.7150/ijms.43140. eCollection 2020.
Photoreceptors are critical components of the retina and play a role in the first step of the conversion of light to electrical signals. The differentiation and degeneration of photoreceptors are regulated by specific genes and proteins. With the development of epigenetic approaches, scientists have discovered that histone modifications, such as acetylation, methylation, ubiquitylation, and phosphorylation, may modulate the processes of photoreceptor differentiation and degeneration. Histone acetylation is regulated by two opposing classes of enzymes, namely, histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs), which add and remove acetyl groups to and from target histones, respectively, causing changes in transcriptional activity. Herein, we review the effects of HATs and HDACs on the differentiation and degeneration of photoreceptors and discuss the underlying mechanisms of these effects.
感光细胞是视网膜的关键组成部分，在将光转化为电信号的第一步中发挥作用。感光细胞的分化和变性受特定基因和蛋白质的调控。随着表观遗传方法的发展，科学家们发现组蛋白修饰，如乙酰化、甲基化、泛素化和磷酸化，可能调节感光细胞的分化和变性过程。组蛋白乙酰化受两类相反的酶调控，即组蛋白乙酰转移酶（HATs）和组蛋白去乙酰化酶（HDACs），它们分别向和从靶标组蛋白上添加和去除乙酰基，导致转录活性的变化。本文综述了 HATs 和 HDACs 对感光细胞分化和变性的影响，并讨论了这些影响的潜在机制。
