Epigenetic patterns maintained in early Caenorhabditis elegans embryos can be established by gene activity in the parental germ cells.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic information, such as parental imprints, can be transmitted with genetic information from parent to offspring through the germ line. Recent reports show that histone modifications can be transmitted through sperm as a component of this information transfer. How the information that is transferred is established in the parent and maintained in the offspring is poorly understood. We previously described a form of imprinted X inactivation in Caenorhabditis elegans where dimethylation on histone 3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me2), a mark of active chromatin, is excluded from the paternal X chromosome (Xp) during spermatogenesis and persists through early cell divisions in the embryo. Based on the observation that the Xp (unlike the maternal X or any autosome) is largely transcriptionally inacti

SUBMITTER: Arico JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3111476 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature