The neuronal nucleus houses a meticulously organized genome. Within this structure, genetic material is not simply compacted but arranged into a precise and functional 3D chromatin landscape essential for cellular regulation. This mini-review highlights the importance of this chromatin landscape in healthy neurodevelopment, as well as the diseases that occur with aberrant chromatin architecture. We discuss insights into the fundamental mechanistic relationship between histone modifications, DNA methylation, and genome organization. We then discuss findings that reveal how these epigenetic features change throughout normal neurodevelopment. Finally, we highlight single-gene neurodevelopmental disorders that illustrate the interdependence of epigenetic features, showing how disruptions in DNA methylation or genome architecture can ripple across the entire epigenome. As such, we emphasize the importance of measuring multiple chromatin architectural aspects, as the disruption of one mechanism can likely impact others in the intricate epigenetic network. This mini-review underscores the vast gaps in our understanding of chromatin structure in neurodevelopmental diseases and the substantial research needed to understand the interplay between chromatin features and neurodevelopment.

中文翻译：

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染色质挂毯作为神经发育的框架


神经元核容纳着一个精心组织的基因组。在这种结构中，遗传物质不是简单地压缩，而是排列成对细胞调节至关重要的精确且功能性的 3D 染色质景观。这篇小型综述强调了这种染色质景观在健康神经发育中的重要性，以及染色质结构异常引起的疾病。我们讨论了对组蛋白修饰、DNA 甲基化和基因组组织之间基本机制关系的见解。然后，我们讨论了揭示这些表观遗传特征在整个正常神经发育过程中如何变化的研究结果。最后，我们强调了单基因神经发育障碍，这些疾病说明了表观遗传特征的相互依赖性，展示了 DNA 甲基化或基因组结构的破坏如何在整个表观基因组中产生涟漪。因此，我们强调测量多个染色质结构方面的重要性，因为一种机制的破坏可能会影响错综复杂的表观遗传网络中的其他机制。这篇小型综述强调了我们对神经发育疾病中染色质结构的理解存在巨大差距，以及了解染色质特征与神经发育之间的相互作用所需的大量研究。