Epigenetic Regulations in Neural Stem Cells and Neurological Diseases

Figure 1

Tet proteins and 5-hmC mediated regulation of NSC proliferation and differentiation. Under the conditions of environmental stimuli, some transcriptional factors (TFs) such as FOXO3a enhance the affinity to Tet proteins along with cofactors of Tet enzymes including α-KG and Fe²⁺ to form a functional complex. By binding to DNA motifs of the targeting genes, the TFs guide the Tet enzymes to catalyze the conversion of 5mC to 5hmC. Generation of 5hmC facilitates the recruitment of the 5hmC binding proteins or other factors to enhance the transcription of targeting genes, thereby regulating the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs.