Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy.
Nutrients. 2022 Mar 15;14(6):1232. doi: 10.3390/nu14061232.
Nutrition plastically modulates the epigenetic landscape in various tissues of an organism during life via epigenetic changes. In the present study, to clarify whether this modulation involves RNA methylation, we evaluated global RNA methylation profiles and the expression of writer, reader, and eraser genes, encoding for enzymes involved in the RNA methylation. The study was carried out in the heart, liver, and kidney samples from rats of different ages in response to a low-calorie diet. We found that, although each tissue showed peculiar RNA methylation levels, a general increase in these levels was observed throughout the lifespan as well as in response to the six-month diet. Similarly, a prominent remodeling of the expression of writer, reader, and eraser genes emerged. Our data provide a comprehensive overview of the role exerted by diet on the tissue-specific epigenetic plasticity of RNA according to aging in rats, providing the first evidence that methylation of RNA, similarly to DNA methylation, can represent an effective biomarker of aging. What is more, the fact that it is regulated by nutrition provides the basis for the development of targeted approaches capable of guaranteeing the maintenance of a state of good health.
营养通过表观遗传变化在生物体的各种组织中对生命过程中的表观基因组景观进行塑性调节。在本研究中，为了阐明这种调节是否涉及 RNA 甲基化，我们评估了来自不同年龄大鼠的心脏、肝脏和肾脏样本中的全局 RNA 甲基化谱以及编码 RNA 甲基化相关酶的写入器、读取器和擦除器基因的表达。该研究是在对低脂饮食的响应中进行的。我们发现，尽管每个组织都显示出特定的 RNA 甲基化水平，但在整个生命过程中以及对六个月饮食的反应中，这些水平普遍增加。同样，写入器、读取器和擦除器基因的表达也发生了明显的重塑。我们的数据提供了一个全面的概述，说明饮食根据衰老对大鼠组织特异性 RNA 表观遗传可塑性的作用，为 RNA 甲基化可以作为衰老的有效生物标志物提供了第一个证据，类似于 DNA 甲基化。更重要的是，事实证明它受营养调节为开发能够保证维持良好健康状态的靶向方法提供了基础。
