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Genomic Imprinting in Mammals: Memories of Generations Past

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Molecular Life Sciences

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Synopsis

Genomic imprinting in mammals is the process in which the nonequivalence of parental genomes is established, leading to parent-of-origin effects on several processes, including transcription. DNA methylation has the dual role of marking genes as either maternally or paternally inherited and of silencing gene expression on one of the two alleles. Furthermore, the imprinting control extends over large domains of genes by mechanisms that have yet to be elucidated. Studies of imprinted regions have revealed many of the broader principles of the epigenetic control of transcription.

Introduction

Mammals are diploid organisms, with two functionally nonequivalent parental genomes. The maternal and paternal genomes are made distinct in their potential for gene expression by specializations that occur during oogenesis and spermatogenesis. Additional specializations can occur after fertilization, before the two genomes are united. These differences are determined by epigenetic...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fels Institute for Cancer Research, Temple University School of Medicine, 3307 N Broad Street, 19140, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Nora Engel

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  1. Nora Engel
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Correspondence to Nora Engel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Chemistry, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, USA

    Ellis Bell

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Engel, N. (2014). Genomic Imprinting in Mammals: Memories of Generations Past. In: Bell, E. (eds) Molecular Life Sciences. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6436-5_45-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6436-5_45-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6436-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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