Genomic imprinting in mammals: an interplay between chromatin and DNA methylation?

• Published in: Trends in genetics Vol. 15; no. 11; pp. 431 - 435
• Main Authors: Feil, Robert, Khosla, Sanjeev
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-11-1999; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Alleles; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Chromatin - chemistry; Chromatin - genetics; Chromatin organization; Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone - metabolism; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Deoxyribonuclease I - metabolism; DNA Methylation; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Genomic Imprinting - physiology; H19; Humans; Imprinting; Male; Mammalia; Mammals - genetics; SNRPN; Vertebrata; H19; SNRPN; Imprinting; Cell biology; DNA methylation; Genetics; Chromatin organization; Molecular arrangement; Vertebrata; Chromatin; Mammalia; Chromosome; Chromosome DNA; Review; Methylation; Genomic imprinting
• ISSN: 0168-9525
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-9525(99)01822-3

Most imprinted loci have key regulatory elements that are methylated on only one of the parental chromosomes. For several of these ‘differentially methylated regions’, recent studies establish that the unmethylated chromosome has a specialized chromatin organization that is characterized by nuclease hypersensitivity. The novel data raise the question of whether specific proteins and associated chromatin features regulate the allele-specificity of DNA methylation at these imprinting control elements.