Neural development requires the orchestration of dynamic changes in gene expression to regulate cell fate decisions. This regulation is heavily influenced by epigenetics, heritable changes in gene expression not directly explained by genomic information alone. An understanding of the complexity of epigenetic regulation is rapidly emerging through the development of novel technologies that can assay various features of epigenetics and gene regulation. Here, we provide a broad overview of several commonly investigated modes of epigenetic regulation, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, noncoding RNAs, as well as epitranscriptomics that describe modifications of RNA, in neurodevelopment and diseases. Rather than functioning in isolation, it is being increasingly appreciated that these various modes of gene regulation are dynamically interactive and coordinate the complex nature of neurodevelopment along multiple axes. Future work investigating these interactions will likely utilize ‘multi‐omic’ strategies that assay cell fate dynamics in a high‐dimensional and high‐throughput fashion. Novel human neurodevelopmental models including iPSC and cerebral organoid systems may provide further insight into human‐specific features of neurodevelopment and diseases.

中文翻译：

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神经发育中的表观遗传学

神经发育需要协调基因表达的动态变化来调节细胞命运决定。这种调节很大程度上受到表观遗传学的影响，表观遗传学是基因表达的遗传变化，不能仅用基因组信息直接解释。随着能够分析表观遗传学和基因调控的各种特征的新技术的发展，人们对表观遗传调控的复杂性的理解正在迅速兴起。在这里，我们对神经发育和疾病中几种常见研究的表观遗传调控模式进行了广泛的概述，包括 DNA 甲基化、组蛋白修饰、非编码 RNA 以及描述 RNA 修饰的表观转录组学。人们越来越认识到，这些不同的基因调控模式不是孤立地发挥作用，而是动态地相互作用，并沿着多个轴协调神经发育的复杂性质。未来研究这些相互作用的工作可能会利用“多组学”策略，以高维和高通量的方式分析细胞命运动态。包括 iPSC 和大脑类器官系统在内的新型人类神经发育模型可以进一步深入了解人类特有的神经发育和疾病特征。