| Literature DB >> 18540823 |
Kenneth J Eilertsen1, Z Floyd, Jeffrey M Gimble.
Abstract
While genetic studies have provided a wealth of information about health and disease, there is a growing awareness that individual characteristics are also determined by factors other than genetic sequences. These "epigenetic" changes broadly encompass the influence of the environment on gene regulation and expression and in a more narrow sense, describe the mechanisms controlling DNA methylation, histone modification and genetic imprinting. In this review, we focus on the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate adult (somatic) stem cell differentiation, beginning with the metabolic pathways and factors regulating chromatin structure and DNA methylation and the molecular biological tools that are currently available to study these processes. The role of these epigenetic mechanisms in manipulating adult stem cells is followed by a discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing this emerging field.Mesh：
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Year: 2008 PMID： 18540823 PMCID： PMC2741686 DOI： 10.1615/critreveukargeneexpr.v18.i3.10
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Crit Rev Eukaryot Gene Expr ISSN： 1045-4403 Impact factor: 1.807