Epigenetic mechanisms of mental retardation

Mental retardation is a common form of cognitive impairment affecting approximately 3% of the population in industrialized countries. The mental retardation syndrome incorporates a highly diverse group of mental disorders characterized by the combination of cognitive impairment and defective adaptive behavior. The genetic basis of the disease is strongly supported by identification of the genetic lesions associated with impaired cognition, learning, and social adaptation in many mental retardation syndromes. Several of the impaired genes encode epigenetic regulators of gene expression. These regulators exert their function through genome-wide posttranslational modification of histones or by mediating and/or recognizing DNA methylation. In this chapter, we review the most recent advances in the field of epigenetic mechanisms of mental retardation. In particular, we focus on animal models of the human diseases and the mechanism of transcriptional deregulation associated with changes in the cell epigenome.