Epigenetic Mechanisms Impacting Aging: A Focus on Histone Levels and Telomeres.

Author: Song S1,2, Johnson FB3
Affiliation:
1Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Graduate Group, Biomedical Graduate Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. sophie.song0822@gmail.com.
2Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Institute on Aging, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. sophie.song0822@gmail.com.
3Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Institute on Aging, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. johnsonb@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
Conference/Journal: Genes (Basel).
Date published: 2018 Apr 9
Other: Volume ID: 9 , Issue ID: 4 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3390/genes9040201. , Word Count: 115


Aging and age-related diseases pose some of the most significant and difficult challenges to modern society as well as to the scientific and medical communities. Biological aging is a complex, and, under normal circumstances, seemingly irreversible collection of processes that involves numerous underlying mechanisms. Among these, chromatin-based processes have emerged as major regulators of cellular and organismal aging. These include DNA methylation, histone modifications, nucleosome positioning, and telomere regulation, including how these are influenced by environmental factors such as diet. Here we focus on two interconnected categories of chromatin-based mechanisms impacting aging: those involving changes in the levels of histones or in the functions of telomeres.

KEYWORDS: aging; chromatin; epigenetics; histones; telomeres

PMID: 29642537 DOI: 10.3390/genes9040201

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