Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2011 Mar;21(3):435-41.
doi: 10.1038/cr.2011.26. Epub 2011 Feb 15.

Epigenetic inheritance: uncontested?

Bing Zhu  1 , Danny Reinberg
Affiliations
Review

Epigenetic inheritance: uncontested?

Bing Zhu et al. Cell Res. 2011 Mar.

Abstract

"Epigenetics" is currently defined as "the inheritance of variation (-genetics) above and beyond (epi-) changes in the DNA sequence". Despite the fact that histones are believed to carry important epigenetic information, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of the inheritance of histone-based epigenetic information, including histone modifications and histone variants. Here we review recent progress and discuss potential models for the mitotic inheritance of histone modifications-based epigenetic information.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Semi-conservative partition, followed by templated modification copying events: an imperfect “ideal” model. (A) Model illustration for the inheritance mechanism of DNA methylation. (B) The “ideal” but recently proven incorrect model for the inheritance of histone modifications.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Modification spreading model that can also be involved in the epigenetic inheritance of histone modifications.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A reinforcement model for epigenetic inheritance. See text for details.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bonasio R, Tu S, Reinberg D. Molecular signals of epigenetic states. Science. 2010;330:612–616. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kornberg RD, Thomas JO. Chromatin structure: oligomers of the histones. Science. 1974;184:865–868. - PubMed
    1. Bannister AJ, Kouzarides T.Regulation of chromatin by histone modifications Cell Res 2011. Feb 15. doi: 10.1038/cr.2011.22 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allis CD, Jenuwein T, Reinberg D.Overviews and conceptsIn: Allis CD, Jenuwein T, Reinberg D, eds. Epigenetics. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 200623–56.
    1. Rea S, Eisenhaber F, O'Carroll D, et al. Regulation of chromatin structure by site-specific histone H3 methyltransferases. Nature. 2000;406:593–599. - PubMed

Publication types