Abstract
The kidney is among the best characterized developing tissues, with the genes and signaling pathways that regulate embryonic and adult kidney patterning and development having been extensively identified. It is now widely understood that DNA methylation and histone modification patterns are imprinted during embryonic development and must be maintained in adult cells for appropriate gene transcription and phenotypic stability. A compelling question then is how these epigenetic mechanisms play a role in kidney development. In this review, we describe the major genes and pathways that have been linked to epigenetic mechanisms in kidney development. We also discuss recent applications of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) techniques in the study of kidney development. Additionally, we summarize the techniques of single-cell epigenomics, which can potentially be used to characterize epigenomes at single-cell resolution in embryonic and adult kidneys. The combination of scRNA-seq and single-cell epigenomics will help facilitate the further understanding of early cell lineage specification at the level of epigenetic modifications in embryonic and adult kidney development, which may also be used to investigate epigenetic mechanisms in kidney diseases.
Highlights
IntroductionThe kidney is one of the most complex organs in mammals and other vertebrates for maintaining homeostasis and filtering waste from the body, and it produces and regulates several hormones and humoral factors, such as renin, erythropoietin, vitamin
The kidney is one of the most complex organs in mammals and other vertebrates for maintaining homeostasis and filtering waste from the body, and it produces and regulates several hormones and humoral factors, such as renin, erythropoietin, vitaminD, prostaglandins, insulin, gastrin, parathyroid hormone, thrombopoietin, glucose and urodilatin [1]
With a growing body of literature on epigenetics, this review focuses on the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that regulate kidney developmental stages and the single-cell sequencing techniques used in studying these mechanisms
Summary
The kidney is one of the most complex organs in mammals and other vertebrates for maintaining homeostasis and filtering waste from the body, and it produces and regulates several hormones and humoral factors, such as renin, erythropoietin, vitamin. Different gene expression during kidney development is regulated by epigenetic mechanisms. This is essential for proper development through the various stages of kidney development and the continued maturation of the kidney postnatally [6]. Was originally limited to mechanisms that could retain the phenotypic state (differential gene expression) through cell division via non-genetic factors, to avoid confusion with such changes associated with environmental factors, such as nutrition and stress [9] This includes enzymatic methylation of cytosine bases or DNA methylation, post-translational modification of tail domains of histone proteins or histone modification, associated nucleosome positioning or chromatin remodeling, the effects of non-coding RNAs and the roles of transcription factor regulatory networks [10]. With a growing body of literature on epigenetics, this review focuses on the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that regulate kidney developmental stages and the single-cell sequencing techniques used in studying these mechanisms
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