title: Nongenomic regulation of gene expression.
abstract: The purpose of this review is to highlight the recent advances in epigenetic regulation and chromatin biology for a better understanding of gene regulation related to human disease.
  
  
  
  Alterations to chromatin influence genomic function, including gene transcription. At its most simple level, this involves DNA methylation and posttranscriptional histone modifications. However, recent developments in biochemical and molecular techniques have revealed that transcriptional regulation is far more complex, involving combinations of histone modifications and discriminating transcription factor binding, and long-range chromatin loops with enhancers, to generate a multifaceted code. Here, we describe the most recent advances, culminating in the example of genomic imprinting, the parent-of-origin monoallelic expression that utilizes the majority of these mechanisms to attain one active and one repressed allele.
  
  
  
  It is becoming increasingly evident that epigenetic mechanisms work in unison to maintain tight control of gene expression and genome function. With the wealth of knowledge gained from recent molecular studies, future goals should focus on the application of this information in deciphering their role in developmental diseases.
authors.affiliation: aNeonatal service, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, BCNatal Hospital Sant Joan de Déu i Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona bImprinting and Cancer group, Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program, Institut d'Investigació Biomedica de Bellvitge, Hospital Duran i Reynals, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Iglesias-Platas
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Monk
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000502:physiology; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D063185:Epigenetic Repression / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy; D018392:Genomic Imprinting / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D015202:Protein Engineering; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D014157:Transcription Factors