Chromatin in nervous system development and disease

Epigenetic regulation of gene expression is critical during development of the central nervous system. Pathogenic variants in genes encoding epigenetic factors have been found to cause a wide variety of neurodevelopmental disorders including Autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and epilepsy. Cancers affecting neuronal and glial cells in the brain have also been shown to exhibit somatic mutations in epigenetic regulators, suggesting chromatin-based links between regulated and dysregulated cellular proliferation and differentiation. In this special issue, six articles review recent discoveries implicating epigenetic modifiers in normal and disease states affecting the nervous system, and the underlying mechanisms by which these modifiers function. Two articles present new information about roles for chromatin regulators in nervous system development and cancer. Together, these manuscripts provide a concise overview of this rapidly growing field. In this introduction, we briefly summarize themes presented in the issue, and pose questions for ongoing research and discovery.