A New Epigenetic Crosstalk: Chemical Modification Information Flow

Abstract

Central dogma is the most fundamental hypothesis in the field of molecular biology and explains the genetic information flow from DNA to protein. Beyond residue-by-residue transmission of sequential information, chemical modifications of DNA, RNA, and protein are also relayed in the course of gene expression. Here, this work presents recent evidence supporting bidirectional interplay between chromatin modifications and RNA modifications. Furthermore, several RNA modifications likely affect chemical modifications of proteins. The relay of chemical modifications occurs co-transcriptionally or co-translationally, ensuring crosstalk among chemical modifications at the DNA, RNA, and protein levels. Overall, this work proposes a hypothetical framework that represents transmission of chemical modification information among chromatin, RNA, and proteins.