How Polyphenols Influence Epigenetic Markers of Aging
How Polyphenols Influence Epigenetic Markers of Aging
Blog Article
Introduction: Polyphenols are one class of bioactive compounds powerful and far-reaching in their occurrence in fruits and vegetables, tea, and red wine, widely hailed for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Recent studies in the recent past, however, have enlightened us on how these fascinating ways the compounds might influence epigenetic markers of aging. Epigenetics is just a simple word and can be defined as the study of changes in gene expression or cellular phenotypes not based on the alteration of the DNA sequence underlying the same but change is mediated through alteration to the DNA molecule itself or to histone proteins around which DNA is wrapped. Some of the known among these mechanisms may include DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA that will most likely and highly have impacts on expressions as a mean to regulate or alter aging and aging-related diseases like longevity.
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DNA Methylation with Polyphenols: DNA methylation is a definition that explains an addition of a methyl group to a DNA molecule. It usually bonds to cytosines and other positions. Hypermethylation of some genes which are related to cellular repair mechanisms and inflammation stops their transcription leading to aging at the time disease onset is developed. DNA hypomethylation favors the transcription of deleterious genes therefore causing instability to the genome of an individual as well as risk to cancer development.
It is reported that some polyphenols, such as flavonoids including quercetin, epicatechins, and resveratrol, can also disrupt the DNA methylation pattern. Resveratrol, for example, present in red wine and other fruits, may have been proposed to activate transcription factors that transpose more genes related to resistance against oxidative stress and inflammation that are known to cause aging. Hence, DNA methylation can be modified via polyphenols to reactivate protective genes and repress disease-promoting ones.
Other important modes of interaction between polyphenols and the epigenome relate to histone modification. Histones are protein structures around which DNA winds. It is recognized that acetylation, methylation, and phosphorylation represent common modifications which lead to gene activation or repression. Histone acetylation, for example, tends to correlate with the activation of gene expression, whereas histone methylation is generally a marker for gene silencing.
Most notably, polyphenols, including resveratrol, curcumin, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), have been shown to affect histone modifications. Resveratrol activates sirtuins; a family of enzymes that remove acetyl groups from histones and regulate genes involved in longevity. Sirtuin activation has been associated with increased DNA repair, improved mitochondrial function, and reduced oxidative stress-all hallmarks of healthy aging.
Maybe most importantly, in turmeric there is curcumin, perhaps the best characterized of all these polyphenols, and known to modulate histone acetylation so as to increase expression of those genes whose product protects against inflammation and neurodegeneration. Thus, the degree of gene regulation permitted by the histone-modifying action of polyphenol may be allowing cellular maintenance as well as keeping resistance to degeneration with the passage of years.
Non-coding RNAs and Polyphenols
Gene expression regulation with respect to aging and ncRNAs like microRNAs and long ncRNAs because these are molecules linked to the phenomenon, being connected with this process since they modulate proliferation of cells but hold an activity termed senescence or the inability of these cells to proliferate. Levels of these nucRNAs, an imbalance has been related to the degenerative versions and versions of this aging phenomenon itself such as Alzheimer's disease, and cardiovascular diseases.
Recent studies indicate that polyphenols modify specific expressions of ncRNAs responsible for the health benefits of aging. For instance, EGCG-a green tea constituent-proved to be the modulator for the regulation of some microRNAs acting as target genes responsible for the inflammation and stress response-part of aging. Therefore, the modification due to changes in some molecular levels determines age-related impacts.
Conclusion: The variations of modification that are caused by polyphenols range from those epigenetic marks that could change the patterns of DNA methylation, alteration in the quantity of histones, to modulation in the functioning of the non-coding RNAs. All these will include turning on defensive genes and inhibiting the activity of pathogenic genes, further slowing the ageing rate with feasible retardation diseases of older age. While much of this research is highly preliminary, the potential that polyphenols may modify the epigenome represents a compelling opportunity for intervention in healthy aging and extended life span. In any case, more studies would be needed for a full illustration of how these long-term polyphenol influences persist in the human aging trajectory. However, due to the power of the epigenetic regulators, these are at the forefront of developing anti-aging therapies.