The aging process results in significant epigenetic changes at all levels of chromatin and DNA organization. These include reduced global heterochromatin, nucleosome remodeling and loss, changes in histone marks, global DNA hypomethylation with CpG island hypermethylation, and the relocalization of chromatin modifying factors. Exactly how and why these changes occur is not fully understood, but evidence that these epigenetic changes affect longevity and may cause aging, is growing. Excitingly, new studies show that age-related epigenetic changes can be reversed with interventions such as cyclic expression of the Yamanaka reprogramming factors. This review presents a summary of epigenetic changes that occur in aging, highlights studies indicating that epigenetic changes may contribute to the aging process and outlines the current state of research into interventions to reprogram age-related epigenetic changes.

衰老过程会导致染色质和 DNA 组织各个层面发生显着的表观遗传变化。这些包括整体异染色质减少、核小体重塑和丢失、组蛋白标记的变化、整体 DNA 低甲基化伴 CpG 岛高甲基化以及染色质修饰因子的重新定位。这些变化发生的具体方式和原因尚不完全清楚，但越来越多的证据表明这些表观遗传变化影响寿命并可能导致衰老。令人兴奋的是，新的研究表明，与年龄相关的表观遗传变化可以通过山中重编程因子的循环表达等干预措施来逆转。这篇综述总结了衰老过程中发生的表观遗传变化，重点介绍了表明表观遗传变化可能促进衰老过程的研究，并概述了重新编程与年龄相关的表观遗传变化的干预措施的研究现状。