ABSTRACT
Future studies of the age-related changes in epigenetic control of specific disease candidate genes or in genome wide epigenetic controls may reveal important links between epigenetic regulation and the development of diabetes in older adults. While progress toward the understanding of the environmental, physiological, and molecular and genetic basis of diabetes in older adults has been made, substantial gaps in knowledge remain, in part because of the complex and heterogeneous nature of diabetes. The clinical relevance of genes associated with chronic diseases has long been debated, especially given the fact that much of the diabetes that is observed in older adults is attributable to overnutrition and underactivity. However, critical clinical information can be obtained from the identification of gene variants that influence the development of diabetes. Gene and epigenetic variation discovered in diabetes research may also further our understanding of age-related metabolic changes that impact function and multiple systems beyond glucose metabolism.
