Epigenetic mechanisms play essential roles in orchestrating kidney development and maintaining renal function throughout life. During nephrogenesis, precise spatiotemporal control of gene expression is required for nephron progenitor cell self-renewal, differentiation, and maturation of the complex nephron architecture. DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, and non-coding RNAs collectively establish and maintain transcriptional programs that guide ureteric bud branching, nephron formation, and lineage specification. Disruption of these regulatory layers can shift the balance between progenitor maintenance and differentiation, leading to congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT), reduced nephron number, and increased lifelong risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Emerging evidence shows that epigenetic dysregulation also contributes to the pathogenesis of renal diseases across the lifespan. Aberrant chromatin states and altered DNA or RNA methylation patterns have been implicated in Wilms tumor, diabetic kidney disease, hypertension-associated nephropathy, and fibrosis. Environmental exposures, metabolic stress, inflammation, and developmental insults can induce persistent epigenetic changes, linking early-life events to adult-onset kidney disease through the “developmental origins of health and disease” (DOHaD) framework.

Advances in single-cell epigenomics, multi-omics integration, and genome editing are enabling unprecedented insights into how epigenetic mechanisms shape renal development and disease susceptibility. These discoveries highlight new opportunities for therapeutic intervention, including targeting histone modifiers, DNA methylation pathways, chromatin regulators, and RNA epigenetic enzymes.

This topic invites contributions that explore fundamental mechanisms, disease modeling, biomarker discovery, and therapeutic strategies related to epigenetic regulation in kidney development and disease.

Keywords: Epigenetics, kidney development, nephron progenitors, chromatin regulation, DNA/RNA methylation, congenital kidney anomalies (CAKUT), chronic kidney disease (CKD), Wilms tumor