Abstract: Behaviors of human and animals in adulthood is influenced greatly by the experience of its early life in childhood, however, it is still unclear of the molecular mechanisms. Recent researches showed that epigenetic alternation of individuals in its early life contribute to the behavior change of grownup. Epigenetics involves in the heritable but reversible regulation of various gene expression through DNA methylation and chromatin modification without sequence alternation. This article briefly introduced the epigenetic mechanisms which contibuted to gene regulation and behavior change of adult individuals caused by early life experience.

Key words: early life experience, maternal behavior, epigenetics