title: The Role of Epigenetic Mechanisms in the Regulation of Gene Expression in the Nervous System.
abstract: Neuroepigenetics is a newly emerging field in neurobiology that addresses the epigenetic mechanism of gene expression regulation in various postmitotic neurons, both over time and in response to environmental stimuli. In addition to its fundamental contribution to our understanding of basic neuronal physiology, alterations in these neuroepigenetic mechanisms have been recently linked to numerous neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders. This article provides a selective review of the role of DNA and histone modifications in neuronal signal-induced gene expression regulation, plasticity, and survival and how targeting these mechanisms could advance the development of future therapies. In addition, we discuss a recent discovery on how double-strand breaks of genomic DNA mediate the rapid induction of activity-dependent gene expression in neurons.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3BF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Justyna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cholewa-Waclaw
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3BF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8600-0372
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bird
authors.affiliation: Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: von Schimmelmann
authors.affiliation: Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cell Engineering, Department of Neurology, and the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, and.
authors.forename: Huimei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cell Engineering, Department of Neurology, and the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, and.
authors.forename: Hongjun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139.
authors.forename: Ram
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madabhushi
authors.affiliation: Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 lhtsai@mit.edu.
authors.forename: Li-Huei
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
keywords: DNA double strand breaks; DNA methylation; MeCP2; polycomb repressive complex; topoisomerase II