1Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, People’s Hospital of Deyang City, Deyang, Sichuan, China
2College of Integrative Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Medicine, Fuzhou, China
3Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Fuzhou General Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
4Shengli Clinical Medical College of Fujian Medical University and Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
5Department of Family and Community Health, School of Nursing, Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
6Department of psychiatry, China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, ChangSha, China
7Department of Psychiatry, Fujian Medical University Affiliated Fuzhou Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
8Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilongguan Clinical School of Medicine, Beijing, China
9Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
10Department of Neurology, Shanghai Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
11Institute of Mental Health, Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
The present study provides a comprehensive introduction to the features of histone tails, including their length, subtypes, nomenclature, biological functions, and regulation, and systematically reviews their roles in psychiatric disorders. A literature search was conducted, covering over 200 common histone modifications and the top 20 common psychiatric disorders. The results indicate that 26 histone tail modifications are positively associated with ten psychiatric disorders, with most located at H3 and H4 tails, and only one at the H2AX tail. All modifications occur at lysines (K), except for two at arginine (R) or serine (S). The top five modifications associated with psychiatric disorders are H3K9ac, H3K4me3, H3K27ac, H3K9me2, and γH2AX. The majority of the studies (92%) report substance use disorders, Alzheimer's disease, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorders as the top five psychiatric disorders associated with histone tail modifications. In conclusion, histone tail modifications play crucial roles in various psychiatric disorders, and targeting them and associated epigenetic regulators may offer potential therapeutic strategies for treating psychiatric disorders by providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying abnormal gene expression.
Keywords: Histone Tail; Histone Modification; Psychiatric Disorder; Methylation; Acetylation; Epigenetic Regulation; Gene Expression
Xiaoping Wang., et al. “Modifications on Histone Tails in Psychiatric Disorders”. EC Psychology And Psychiatry 15.1 (2026): 01-19.
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