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Review
. 2019 Jan 9:9:697.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2018.00697. eCollection 2018.

The Alteration of Subtelomeric DNA Methylation in Aging-Related Diseases

Haochang Hu  1 , Bin Li  1 , Shiwei Duan  1
Affiliations
Review

The Alteration of Subtelomeric DNA Methylation in Aging-Related Diseases

Haochang Hu et al. Front Genet. .

Abstract

The telomere is located at the end of the chromosome and consists of a non-coding, repetitive DNA sequence. As the cell divides, the length of telomere gradually decreases. A very short telomere can terminate mitosis, and thus telomere length becomes a hallmark of cellular aging. The 500 kb region of each autosomal arm terminal is the so-called subtelomeric region. Both telomere and subtelomere have high-density DNA repeats. Telomeres do not contain genes or CpG sequences, while subtelomeres contain small amounts of genes and high-density CpG sequences, and DNA methylation often occurs in subtelomeres. Previous studies have shown that aberrant methylation of subtelomeric DNA exists in many diseases, and it has a certain effect on the regulation of telomere length. In this review, we focus on the correlation between subtelomeric DNA methylation and aging-related diseases. We also summarize the relationship between subtelomeric methylation and telomere length in different diseases.

Keywords: age-related disease; epigenetic modification; subtelomeric DNA methylation; telomerase; telomere length.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
A structural diagram of telomeres and subtelomeres. The methylation level of the subtelomeric DNA can be regulated by the DNMT3L, DNMT3a, and DNMT3b enzymes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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