Epigenetic regulation of steroidogenesis
Epigenetics is defined as heritable changes in gene expression that does not alter the primary DNA sequence but are mitotically and transgenerationally inheritable. Epigenetic regulation is essential during organ development and works side by side with gene regulatory mechanisms involving transcription factors and DNA regulatory elements.
Main content
Epigenetics is defined as heritable changes in gene expression that does not alter the primary DNA sequence but are mitotically and transgenerationally inheritable. Epigenetic regulation is essential during organ development and works side by side with gene regulatory mechanisms involving transcription factors and DNA regulatory elements.
In a recent paper, we have investigated the effect of DNA methylation on dictating cell- and tissue-specific expression of SF-1 (Hoivik et al., 2008). In short, DNA hypermethylation of the SF-1 promoter represses expression of SF-1 in nonexpressing cells, while SF-1 is allowed to be expressed in cells that have a hypomethylated SF-1 promoter.
Thus, DNA methylation or not, is the basic question when it comes to tissues-specific expression of SF-1 (see figure). We will continue to investigate effects of epigenetic regulation on cell-specific expression and differentiation of SF-1, along with defining possible mechanisms involved in this process.