DNA表观遗传修饰在抑郁症中的作用及机制

Role and mechanism of DNA epigenetic modification in depression

表观遗传学(epigenetics)指的是DNA序列不发生改变,但基因所表达出来的遗传信息发生了可遗传的改变,并最终导致遗传的表型发生变化的生物学现象,其主要内容包括DNA修饰、非编码RNA调控和组蛋白修饰等。很多研究表明,表观遗传修饰与抑郁症的发生发展有关,表观遗传修饰的失调是抑郁症发病机制的关键。目前,关于抑郁症表观遗传修饰的研究主要集中在DNA修饰水平。DNA的表观遗传修饰主要分为三类,一是胞嘧啶C5位的甲基化修饰,称为5甲基胞嘧啶(C5-methylcytosine,5mC);二是5mC去甲基化形成5-羟甲基胞嘧啶(C5-hydroxymethylcytosine,5hmC);三是腺嘌呤N6位的甲基化修饰,称为N6-甲基腺嘌呤(N6-methyladenine,6mA)。DNA表观遗传修饰在抑郁症的发生与发展中发挥了重要作用,该文就DNA甲基化、DNA去甲基化及6mA在抑郁症中作用的研究进展进行了综述。

Epigenetics refers to the biological phenomenon that DNA sequence does not change,but the genetic information expressed is genetically changed,which eventually leads to the change of the genetic phenotype.Its main contents include DNA modification,non-coding RNA regulation and histone modification.Many studies have shown that epigenetic modification is related to the occurrence and development of depression,and the disorder of epigenetic modification is the key to the pathogenesis of depression.At present,the researches on epigenetic modification of depression mainly focused on the level of DNA modification.Epigenetic modification of DNA is mainly divided into three types:the first is the methylation modification at the C5 position of cytosine,which is called C5-methylcytosine(5 mC);the second is the demethylation modification at the C5 position of 5 mC,which is called C5-hydroxymethylcytosine(5 hmC);the third is the methylation modification at the N6 position of adenine,which is called N6-methyladenine(6 mA).Epigenetic modification of DNA plays an important role in the occurrence and development of depression.This review illustrated the research progress of DNA methylation,DNA demethylation and the role of 6 mA in depression.