The Sins of the Fathers and Mothers: Genomic Imprinting in Mammalian Development

The genetic nonequivalence of the mammalian maternal and paternal genomes, uncovered by the elegant pronuclear transplantation studies in the 1980s (McGrath and Solter, 1984; Surani et al., 1984), came as quite a surprise and forced classical Mendelian genetics to undergo a number of revisions. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cell 1999-01, Vol.96 (2), p.185-193
Main Author: Tilghman, Shirley M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Evolution
Embryonic and Fetal Development - genetics
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
Genetic Markers
Genomic Imprinting - genetics
Germ Cells - physiology
Humans
Sex Differentiation
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Summary:The genetic nonequivalence of the mammalian maternal and paternal genomes, uncovered by the elegant pronuclear transplantation studies in the 1980s (McGrath and Solter, 1984; Surani et al., 1984), came as quite a surprise and forced classical Mendelian genetics to undergo a number of revisions. The discovery of imprinting also presents us with a genetic paradox: by silencing one allele of an autosomal gene, mammals discard the advantage of diploidy. What are parents trying to achieve with this heavy-handed way of influencing gene expression in their offspring? This article will focus on that issue, as well as outstanding issues regarding the mechanism of imprinting.
ISSN:0092-8674
1097-4172
DOI:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80559-0