| Literature DB >> 17723285 |
Matthew J Provenzano1, Frederick E Domann.
Abstract
Epigenetics is a large and diverse field encompassing a number of different mechanisms essential to development, DNA stability and gene expression. DNA methylation and histone modifications work individually and in conjunction with each other leading to phenotypic changes. An overwhelming amount of evidence exists demonstrating the essential nature of epigenetics to human biology and pathology. This field has spawned a vast array of knowledge, techniques and pharmaceuticals designed to investigate and manipulate epigenetic phenomena. Despite its centricity to molecular biology, little work has been conducted examining how epigenetics affects hearing. In this review, we discuss both the basic tenets of epigenetics and highlight the most recent advances in this field. We discuss its importance to human development, genomic stability, gene expression, epigenetic modifying agents as well as briefly introduce the expansive field of cancer epigenetics. We then examine the evidence of a role for epigenetics in hearing related processes and hearing loss. The article concludes with a discussion of areas of epigenetic research that could be applied to hearing research.Entities:
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Year: 2007 PMID： 17723285 PMCID： PMC2994318 DOI： 10.1016/j.heares.2007.07.002
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Hear Res ISSN： 0378-5955 Impact factor: 3.208