Epigenetics has been redefined multiple times and today, it is generally accepted as “an academic discipline for the study of changes in gene function that are heritable after mitotic and/or meiotic division without any change in DNA sequence and/or changes in cell phenotype”. DNA methylation and histone modifications are one of the major mechanisms of epigenetic modifications. Vitamins and biofactors can modulate these epigenetic modifications. Vitamin B
2, B
6, B
12, folate, and some biofactors such as betaine and choline regulate DNA methylation and histone methylation via synthesizing
S-adenosyl-
L-methionine that is the unique methyl donor for C5 position of cytosine base and lysine residues in histone tails. Vitamin C, Fe
2+, and 2-oxoglutarate are cofactors for ten-eleven translocation methylcytosine dioxygenases that are important for oxidative demethylation of cytosine base and for jumonji domain-containing histone demethylases that remove methyl groups from lysine residues in histone tails. Vitamin B
2 is also a cofactor for lysine-specific histone demethylase. Pantothenate is a cofactor for histone acetyltransferases and niacin is a cofactor for NAD
+-dependent histone deacetylases. Vitamins A, D, and E and biotin are also cofactors to regulate epigenetic modification
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