Abstract
Comparisons between the platypus and eutherian mammalian genomes provides new insights into how epigenetic imprinting may have evolved in mammalian genomes.
Highlights
Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon that results in monoallelic gene expression
Investigations of four imprinted therian genes have failed to detect any evidence for genomic imprinting in the monotremes: IGF2 [6], IGF2R [7] and UBE3A [8] are biallelically expressed in the platypus while PEG10 [9] is absent
We examined orthologous sequences for all therian imprinted genes or regions that could be identified in the platypus genome (a subset is graphically represented in Figure 1, representing eutherian imprinted genes that are isolated or in small or large imprinted clusters)
Summary
Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon that results in monoallelic gene expression. Amongst mammals, it has only been identified in the therians (marsupials and eutherians). The most widely accepted hypothesis to explain why mammalian imprinting may have been retained is the 'kinship hypothesis' [3,4]. This suggests that imprinting evolved to regulate nutrient exchange between the mother and the developing fetus [4]. Investigations of four imprinted therian genes have failed to detect any evidence for genomic imprinting in the monotremes: IGF2 [6], IGF2R [7] and UBE3A [8] are biallelically expressed in the platypus while PEG10 [9] is absent
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