Vitamin C and epigenetics: A short physiological overview

Abstract

In recent years, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) has acquired great interest due to its multiple functions, which results in homeostasis of normal tissues and organs. On the other hand, it has been shown that epigenetic modifications may have an important role in various diseases and therefore are a focus of the extraordinary investigation. Ascorbic acid serves as a cofactor for ten-eleven translocation dioxygenases, which are responsible for deoxyribonucleic acid methylation. Also, vitamin C is required for histone demethylation, since it acts as a cofactor of Jumonji C-domain-containing histone demethylases. It seems that vitamin C may be a mediator between the environment and the genome. The precise and multistep mechanism of ascorbic acid in epigenetic control is still not definitely determined. This article intends to provide the basic and newly discovered functions of vitamin C that are related to epigenetic control. Also, this article will help us to better understand the functions of ascorbic acid and will provide the possible implications of this vitamin in the regulation of epigenetic modifications.

Keywords

• ascorbic acid
• epigenetics
• dna methylation
• histone modification