[Epigenetic regulation mechanism: roles in enamel formation and developmental defects of enamel]

Enamel formation is a series of complex physiological processes, which are regulated by critical genes spatially and temporally. These processes involve multiple developmental stages covering ages and are prone to suffer signal interference or gene mutations, ultimately leading to developmental defects of enamel (DDE). Epigenetic modifications have important regulatory roles in gene expression during enarnel development. New technologies including high-throughput sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq), and DNA methylation chip are emerging in recent years, making it possible to establish genome-wide epigenetic modification profiles during developmental processes. The regulatory role of epigenetic modification with spatio-temporal pattern, such as DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNA, has significantly expanded our understanding of the regulatory network of enamel formation, providing a new theoretical basis of clinical management and intervention strategy for DDE. The present review briefly describes the enamel formation process of human beings' teeth as well as rodent incisors and summarizes the dynamic characteristics of epigenetic modification during enamel formation. The functions of epigenetic modification in enamel formation and DDE are also emphatically discussed.