The short, non-coding RNAs, also called microRNAs (miRNAs) can bind complementary sequences on cellular mRNAs. The consequence of this binding is generally the degradation of mRNA and the inhibition of its translation. For this reason, miRNAs are included among the epigenetic factors acting as a modulator of gene expression. How miRNAs expression is, in turn, regulated is still the object of active investigation, but DNA methylation, another epigenetic modification, seems to play a central role in this sense. The "one-carbon" metabolism is responsible for the metabolic regulation of trans-methylation reactions and, therefore, DNA methylation. For this reason, to investigate the possible correlations between alterations of the one-carbon metabolism and differential DNA methylation sounds interesting. Moreover, recent evidence indicates that, vice-versa, miRNAs are associated with DNA methylation modulation, in a mutual cross-talk. The present review will discuss the interplay between miRNAs and DNA methylation and its fall-out on gene expression regulation.

中文翻译：

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DNA甲基化和miRNA在基因表达调控中的复杂相互作用。

短的非编码RNA，也称为microRNA（miRNA），可以结合细胞mRNA上的互补序列。这种结合的结果通常是mRNA的降解及其翻译的抑制。因此，miRNA被包括在表观遗传因子中，充当基因表达的调节剂。反过来，如何调控miRNA的表达仍是积极研究的对象，但是在这种意义上，另一种表观遗传修饰DNA甲基化似乎起着核心作用。“一碳”代谢负责反甲基化反应的代谢调节，因此也负责DNA甲基化。因此，研究单碳代谢变化与DNA甲基化差异之间的可能相关性听起来很有趣。此外，反之亦然，最近的证据表明，miRNA在相互串扰中与DNA甲基化调节有关。本综述将讨论miRNA与DNA甲基化之间的相互作用及其对基因表达调控的影响。