Epigenetics

Epigenetic and cellular signalling interactions

While the epigenetic mechanisms underpinning the structural chromatin environment and their impact on DNA function is well studied, a there are still huge gaps in our knowledge regarding how the epigenome detects and responds to stimuli in the cytoplasmic and extracellular environment.

Deeper understanding of the interactions between the nuclear, cytosolic and extracellular environment will lead to important insights into epigenetic gene regulation, disease mechanisms and potential future therapies.

In this article collection we call for both original and review articles that: mechanistically explore the bidirectional interactions between the epigenetic network and extracellular/cytosolic signalling pathways; how this interplay maintains normal cellular homeostasis; how disruption of these interactions contribute to disease and what can these interactions tell us about the environmental influences on epigenetic gene regulation and complex diseases.

Subtopics:

1. Mechano-signalling mechanisms and pathways that can culminate in changes to chromatin and gene expression
2. Signal transduction pathways regulating the export/import of chromatin and DNA modifiers into the nucleus
3. Metabolites that act as signalling molecules and epigenetic marks
4. The role of the nuclear envelope in regulating chromatin structure
5. Influence of phase separation in mediating cellular signalling and epigenetic compartments
6. Higher order chromatin structure as a scaffold for epigenetic-cellular signalling interactions
7. Non-coding RNA as messengers between epigenetic and cellular signalling cascade

Keywords:

1. Signal transduction
2. Phosphorylation
3. Chromatin remodelling
4. Transcription factors
5. Nuclear structure and dynamics

Guest Advisor

Prof. Adele Murrell has a longstanding interest in epigenetic gene regulation, and has worked on genomic imprinting as a model to understand the mechanisms whereby DNA methylation dynamics, non-coding RNA and chromatin conformation interact to regulate gene expression, and has investigated these interactions in cancer and ageing. Current research in the lab is focusing on how nuclear architecture is influenced by external cell signalling. For further details about Prof. Murrell's professional profile, kindly refer to these links: https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/adele-murrell/, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2647-3511

Disclosure Statement: Prof. Murrell declares no conflict of interest regarding this work.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review. Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

To submit your papers to this Article Collection, please:

1. Check "yes" for the question, "Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?"
2. Select the Article Collection ‘Epigenetic and cellular signalling interactions’ from the drop-down menu under the question, "Special Issue or Article Collection Name."

Please contact Changluan Zhou at [email protected] with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.