Marsupials have monoallelic MEST expression with a conserved antisense lncRNA but MEST is not imprinted.

ABSTRACT: The imprinted isoform of the Mest gene in mice is involved in key mammalian traits such as placental and fetal growth, maternal care and mammary gland maturation. The imprinted isoform has a distinct differentially methylated region (DMR) at its promoter in eutherian mammals but in marsupials, there are no differentially methylated CpG islands between the parental alleles. Here, we examined similarities and differences in the MEST gene locus across mammals using a marsupial, the tammar wallaby, a monotreme, the platypus, and a eutherian, the mouse, to investigate how imprinting of this gene evolved in mammals. By confirming the presence of the short isoform in all mammalian groups (which is imprinted in eutherians), this study suggests that an alternative promoter for the short isoform evo

SUBMITTER: Ishihara T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10798977 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature