Through epigenetic mechanisms cells integrate environmental stimuli to fine-tune gene expression levels. Mitochondrial function is essential to provide the intermediate metabolites necessary to generate and modify epigenetic marks in the nucleus, which in turn can regulate the expression of mitochondrial proteins. In this review we summarize the function of mitochondria in the regulation of epigenetic mechanisms as a new aspect of mitonuclear communication. We focus in particular on the most common epigenetic modifications – histone acetylation and histone and DNA methylation. We also discuss the emerging field of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) methylation, whose physiological role remains unknown. Finally, we describe the essential role of some histone modifications in regulating the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR^mt) and the mitochondrial stress-dependent lifespan extension.

通过表观遗传机制，细胞整合环境刺激来微调基因表达水平。线粒体功能对于提供产生和修饰细胞核中表观遗传标记所必需的中间代谢物至关重要，继而可以调节线粒体蛋白的表达。在这篇综述中，我们总结了线粒体在表观遗传机制调控中的功能，作为微核通讯的一个新方面。我们特别关注最常见的表观遗传修饰–组蛋白乙酰化以及组蛋白和DNA甲基化。我们还讨论了线粒体DNA（mtDNA）甲基化的新兴领域，其生理作用仍然未知。最后，我们描述了一些组蛋白修饰在调节线粒体未折叠蛋白应答（UPR）中的重要作用^mt）和线粒体应激相关的寿命延长。