Abstract: Microbes can regulate the physiological function of infected hosts during hostmicrobe interaction. One of the important regulations is epigenetic regulation. Epigenetic inheritance relates to changes in gene expression and function that are not encoded in the DNA sequences and inducible heritable phenotypes. The epigenetic regulation plays an essential role in host immune response caused by microbe challenges. Clarifying the epigenetic regulation mechanisms of microbes in the host is beneficial to carry out clinical targeted therapies, enhance the clinical application of epigenetic regulators and provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment of related diseases. This review summarizes the epigenetic changes in hosts caused by several common oral microbes and related mechanisms.

Key words: oral microbe, epigenetics, methylation, acetylation