International Publisher of Science, Technology and Medicine Nutriepigenetics and Related Topics: From Cell Mechanisms to Possible Therapeutic Relevance

Nutritional genomics (nutrigenomics) is a broad field that relates the genome to nutrition, and includes the effects of dietary components on the expression of genes and on the repair of genetic damage. Bioactive forms of vitamin A (retinoids) and D (calciferols), for example, can modulate gene expression programs and thereby affect reproduction, development, and many other physiological functions, e.g., reviewed in [1-3], discussion below. An individual’s genetic and epigenetic uniqueness influences the ability to produce, metabolize, transport or store nutrients, and can result in unique nutritional requirements. Nutrients and other dietary factors can contribute to disease prevention and therapy through several strategies whereby their intake is increased or decreased to (a) help control the effects of genetic mutations that cause diseases or contribute to disease risk, and (b) influence expression of genes that typically lack such genetic mutations but contribute to disease risk. Nutritional epigenetics (nutriepigenetics, a term I use since 2008) is defined as one component of category b, and includes dietary factors that modulate gene expression through some of the covalent modifications of chromatin components. Such modifications create marks or patterns, e.g., DNA methylation, that may be heritable through somatic (mitotic) or germ cell (meiotic) divisions. Category a is the more classic domain of nutritional genetics (nutrigenetics) and this term can also be used to encompass dietary factor-dependent transcriptional modulation of gene expression that is not based on epigenetic patterns. Gene expression modulation through increases in copy number of a given genetic sequence can also be part o