Genomic imprinting

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Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon by which certain genes can be expressed in a parent-of-origin-specific manner. It may also ensure transposable elements remain epigenetically silenced throughout gametogenic reprogramming to maintain genome integrity.[1] It is an inheritance process independent of the classical Mendelian inheritance. In Homo sapiens, imprinted alleles are silenced such that the genes are either expressed only from the non-imprinted allele inherited from the mother (e.g. H19 or CDKN1C), or in other instances from the non-imprinted allele inherited from the father (e.g. IGF-2). However, in plants parental genomic imprinting can refer to gene expression both solely or primarily from either parent's allele.[2] Forms of genomic imprinting have been demonstrated in fungi, plants and animals.[3]

Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic process that can involve DNA methylation and histone modulation in order to achieve monoallelic gene expression without altering the genetic sequence. These epigenetic marks are established in the germline and can be maintained through mitotic divisions.

Appropriate expression of imprinted genes is important for normal development, with numerous genetic diseases associated with imprinting defects including Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome, Silver–Russell syndrome, Angelman syndrome and Prader–Willi syndrome[citation needed].


In diploid organisms, somatic cells possess two copies of the genome. Each autosomal gene is therefore represented by two copies, or alleles, with one copy inherited from each parent at fertilisation. For the vast majority of autosomal genes, expression occurs from both alleles simultaneously. In mammals, however, a small proportion (<1%) of genes are imprinted, meaning that gene expression occurs from only one allele.[4] The expressed allele is dependent upon its parental origin. For example, the gene encoding Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2/Igf2) is only expressed from the allele inherited from the father.[5]

The term "imprinting" was first used to describe events in the insect Pseudococcus nipae.[6] In Pseudococcids (mealybugs) (Homoptera, Coccoidea) both the male and female develop from a fertilised egg. In females, all chromosomes remain euchromatic and functional. In embryos destined to become males, one haploid set of chromosomes becomes heterochromatinised after the sixth cleavage division and remains so in most tissues; males are thus functionally haploid.[7][8][9] In insects, imprinting describes the silencing of the paternal genome in males, and thus is involved in sex determination. In mammals, genomic imprinting describes the processes involved in introducing functional inequality between two parental alleles of a gene.[10]

Imprinted genes in mammals[edit]

That imprinting might be a feature of mammalian development was suggested in breeding experiments in mice carrying reciprocal translocations.[11] Nucleus transplantation experiments in mouse zygotes in the early 1980s confirmed that normal development requires the contribution of both the maternal and paternal genomes. The vast majority of mouse parthenogenones/gynogenones (with two maternal or egg genomes) and androgenones (with two paternal or sperm genomes) die at, or before, the blastocyst/implantation stage. In the rare instances that they develop to postimplantation stages, gynogenetic embryos show better embryonic development relative to placental development, while for androgenones, the reverse is true. Nevertheless, for the latter, only a few have been described.[12][13][14]

Parthenogenetic/gynogenetic embryos have twice the normal expression level of maternally derived genes, and lack expression of paternally expressed genes, while the reverse is true for androgenetic embryos. It is now known that there are at least 80 imprinted genes in humans and mice, many of which are involved in embryonic and placental growth and development.[15][16][17][18] Various methods have been used to identify imprinted genes. In swine, Bischoff et al. 2009 compared transcriptional profiles using short-oligonucleotide microarrays (Affymetrix Porcine GeneChip) to survey differentially expressed genes between parthenotes (2 maternal genomes) and control fetuses (1 maternal, 1 paternal genome)[19] An intriguing study surveying the transcriptome of murine brain tissues revealed over 1300 imprinted gene loci (approximately 10-fold more than previously reported) by Illumina RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology from F1 hybrids resulting from reciprocal crosses.[20] The result however has been challenged by others who claimed that this is an overestimation by an order of magnitude due to flawed statistical analysis.[21][22]

No naturally occurring cases of parthenogenesis exist in mammals because of imprinted genes. Experimental manipulation of a paternal methylation imprint controlling the Igf2 gene has, however, recently allowed the creation of rare individual mice with two maternal sets of chromosomes - but this is not a true parthenogenone. Hybrid offspring of two species may exhibit unusual growth due to the novel combination of imprinted genes.[23]

Genetic mapping of imprinted genes[edit]

At the same time as the generation of the gynogenetic and androgenetic embryos discussed above, mouse embryos were also being generated that contained only small regions that were derived from either a paternal or maternal source.[24][25] The generation of a series of such uniparental disomies, which together span the entire genome, allowed the creation of an imprinting map.[26] Those regions which when inherited from a single parent result in a discernible phenotype contain imprinted gene(s). Further research showed that within these regions there were often numerous imprinted genes.[27] Around 80% of imprinted genes are found in clusters such as these, called imprinted domains, suggesting a level of co-ordinated control.[28] More recently, genome-wide screens to identify imprinted genes have used differential expression of mRNAs from control fetuses and parthenogenetic or androgenetic fetuses hybridized to expression arrays,[29] allele-specific gene expression using SNP genotyping arrays,[30] transcriptome sequencing,[31] and in silico prediction pipelines.[32]

Imprinting mechanisms[edit]

Imprinting is a dynamic process. It must be possible to erase and re-establish imprints through each generation so that genes that are imprinted in an adult may still be expressed in that adult's offspring. (ex. The maternal genes that control insulin production will be imprinted in a male but will be expressed in any of the male's offspring that inherit these genes). The nature of imprinting must therefore be epigenetic rather than DNA sequence dependent. In germline cells the imprint is erased and then re-established according to the sex of the individual, i.e. in the developing sperm (during spermatogenesis), a paternal imprint is established, whereas in developing oocytes (oogenesis), a maternal imprint is established. This process of erasure and reprogramming[33] is necessary such that the germ cell imprinting status is relevant to the sex of the individual. In both plants and mammals there are two major mechanisms that are involved in establishing the imprint; these are DNA methylation and histone modifications.




Functions of imprinted genes[edit]

The control of expression of specific genes by genomic imprinting is unique to therian mammals (placental mammals and marsupials) and flowering plants. Imprinting of whole chromosomes has been reported in mealybugs (Genus: Pseudococcus).[6][7][8][9] and a fungus gnat (Sciara).[35] It has also been established that X-chromosome inactivation occurs in an imprinted manner in the extra-embryonic tissues of mice and all tissues in marsupials, where it is always the paternal X-chromosome which is silenced.[28][36]

The majority of imprinted genes in mammals have been found to have roles in the control of embryonic growth and development, including development of the placenta.[15][37] Other imprinted genes are involved in post-natal development, with roles affecting suckling and metabolism.[37][38]

Theories on the origins of imprinting[edit]

A widely accepted hypothesis for the evolution of genomic imprinting is the "parental conflict hypothesis."[39] Also known as the kinship theory of genomic imprinting, this hypothesis states that the inequality between parental genomes due to imprinting is a result of the differing interests of each parent in terms of the evolutionary fitness of their genes.[40][41] The father's genes that encode for imprinting gain greater fitness through the success of the offspring, at the expense of the mother. The mother's evolutionary imperative is often to conserve resources for her own survival while providing sufficient nourishment to current and subsequent litters. Accordingly, paternally expressed genes tend to be growth promoting whereas maternally expressed genes tend to be growth limiting.[39] In support of this hypothesis, genomic imprinting has been found in all placental mammals, where post-fertilisation offspring resource consumption at the expense of the mother is high; although it has also been found in oviparous birds [42][43] where there is relatively little post-fertilisation resource transfer and therefore less parental conflict.

However, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind genomic imprinting show that it is the maternal genome that controls much of the imprinting of both its own and the paternally-derived genes in the zygote, making it difficult to explain why the maternal genes would willingly relinquish their dominance to that of the paternally-derived genes in light of the conflict hypothesis.[44] Several other hypotheses that propose a coadaptive reason for the evolution of genomic imprinting have been proposed.[44][45]

Others have approached their study of the origins of genomic imprinting from a different side, arguing that natural selection is operating on the role of epigenetic marks as machinery for homologous chromosome recognition during meiosis, rather than on their role in differential expression.[46] This argument centers on the existence of epigenetic effects on chromosomes that do not directly affect gene expression, but do depend on which parent the chromosome originated from.[47] This group of epigenetic changes that depend on the chromosome's parent of origin (including both those that affect gene expression and those that do not) are called parental origin effects, and include phenomena such as paternal X inactivation in the marsupials, nonrandom parental chromatid distribution in the ferns, and even mating type switching in yeast.[47] This diversity in organisms that show parental origin effects has prompted theorists to place the evolutionary origin of genomic imprinting before the last common ancestor of plants and animals, over a billion years ago.[46]


Problems associated with imprinting[edit]





The first imprinted genetic disorders to be described in humans were the reciprocally inherited Prader-Willi syndrome and Angelman syndrome. Both syndromes are associated with loss of the chromosomal region 15q11-13 (band 11 of the long arm of chromosome 15). This region contains the paternally expressed genes (SNRPN and NDN) and the maternally expressed gene (UBE3A).


NOEY2 is a paternally expressed imprinted gene located on chromosome 1 in humans. Loss of NOEY2 expression is linked to an increased risk of ovarian and breast cancers; in 41% of breast and ovarian cancers the protein encoded by NOEY2 is not expressed, suggesting that it functions as a tumor suppressor gene[51] Therefore, if Uniparental disomy occurs and a person inherits both chromosomes from the mother, the gene will not be expressed and the individual is put at a greater risk for breast and ovarian cancer.


Other conditions involving imprinting include Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, Silver-Russell syndrome, and pseudohypoparathyroidism.[52]

Transient neonatal diabetes mellitus can also involve imprinting.[53]

Imprinted genes in plants[edit]

A similar imprinting phenomenon has also been described in flowering plants (angiosperms). During fertilisation of the egg cell, a second, separate fertilization event gives rise to the endosperm, an extraembryonic structure that nourishes the embryo in a manner analogous to the mammalian placenta. Unlike the embryo, the endosperm is often formed from the fusion of two maternal cells with a male gamete. This results in a triploid genome. The uneven ratio of maternal to paternal genomes appears to be critical for seed development. Some genes are found to be expressed from both maternal genomes while others are expressed exclusively from the lone paternal copy.[54]

See also[edit]


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