衰老的表观遗传机制研究进展

Progress in Epigenetic Mechanism Research of Aging

近年来,关于衰老的表观遗传学机制的研究逐渐成为分子生物学研究的热点之一。表观遗传修饰在衰老进程中发生了复杂的变化,而这种变化可能是衰老的决定因素之一。该文从基因组DNA甲基化、组蛋白H3、H4特殊位点甲基化、乙酰化及其相应修饰酶变化、染色质结构状态改变、端粒功能和非编码RNA调节等方面总结近几年来关于衰老进程中发生的表观遗传学修饰改变的研究情况,为衰老发生机制和抗衰老研究提供依据。

The study on epigenetic mechanism of aging is becoming one of the hotspots in the field of molecular biology in recent years. Epigenetic modifications undergo complex changes during the process of aging, and that is supposed to be one of the decisive factors of aging. Here, we summarize the research on the alteration of epigenetic modifications, such as the hypo- and hyper-methylation of genomic DNA, the variation of the histone modification including some particular sites methylation and acetylation of the histone proteins and the related en- zymes, the remodeling of chromatin structure, function changes of telomere, as well as the role of microRNA dur- ing the process of aging, to provide some theoretical basis for further research about the mechanism of aging and its potential application of anti-aging.