Upregulation of imprinted genes in mice: an insight into the intensity of gene expression and the evolution of genomic imprinting.

ABSTRACT: Imprinted genes are expressed monoallelically because one of the two copies is silenced epigentically in a parent-of-origin pattern. This pattern of expression is controlled by differential marking of parental alleles by DNA methylation and chromatin modifications, including both suppressive and permissive histone acetylation and methylation. Suppressive histone modifications mark silenced alleles of imprinted genes, while permissive histone modifications mark the active alleles, suggesting the possibility that imprinted genes would show upregulation in gene expression. However, it is currently unknown whether imprinted genes show such upregulation. To address this question in mice, we estimated the intensity of expression of 59 genes relative to the rest of the genome by analyzing microar

SUBMITTER: Zaitoun I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3020655 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature