Dietary Restriction, Dietary Design and the Epigenetics of Aging and Longevity

Abstract

AbstractAs the mechanisms of long-term control of gene expression, it would seem that the various aspects of epigenetics would be important for, even determinants of, aging and longevity . Yet few data connect these directly. Epigenetics changes with age; in particular DNA methylation and histone acetylation have been well studied. For humans, a DNA methylation based “epigenetic clock ” has been developed to track the apparent chronological age of people, tissues, stem cells and cancers. Histone acetylation is important for maintaining cognitive memory in animals and restoration of histone acetylation improves memory in older animals. Several aspects of diet and metabolism affect epigenetics. These include the effects of glucose on histone acetylation and methylation, the effects of acetyl-coenzyme A and energy metabolism on histone acetylation, natural histone deacetylase inhibitors found in foods such as broccoli and garlic affecting histone acetylation and DNA methylation, and the effects of methyl metabolism and nutrients such as folate on DNA and histone methylation. Models of greatly extended longevity should be studied for epigenetics to test if epigenetics are preserved when longevity is extended and then studies to manipulate epigenetics in these models should be done to measure their effects on longevity.KeywordsHigh GlucoseHistone AcetylationKetogenic DietIncrease Histone AcetylationEpigenetic ClockThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.