title: Epigenetic regulation of cardiac myocyte differentiation.
abstract: Cardiac myocytes (CMs) proliferate robustly during fetal life but withdraw permanently from the cell cycle soon after birth and undergo terminal differentiation. This cell cycle exit is associated with the upregulation of a host of adult cardiac-specific genes. The vast majority of adult CMs (ACMs) do not reenter cell cycle even if subjected to mitogenic stimuli. The basis for this irreversible cell cycle exit is related to the stable silencing of cell cycle genes specifically involved in the progression of G2/M transition and cytokinesis. Studies have begun to clarify the molecular basis for this stable gene repression and have identified epigenetic and chromatin structural changes in this process. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of epigenetic regulation of CM cell cycle and cardiac-specific gene expression with a focus on histone modifications and the role of retinoblastoma family members.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Kyohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oyama
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: El-Nachef
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Yiqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Patima
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sdek
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: W Robb
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: MacLellan
keywords: cardiac myocyte; differentiation; heterochromatin; histone modification; proliferation; retinoblastoma protein