backgrund: imprinted genes are a unique subset of few genes, which have been differentially methylated region (dmr) in a parental origin-dependent manner during gametogenesis, and these genes are highly protected during pre-implantation epigenetic reprogramming. several studies heve shown that the particular vulnerability of imprinting genes during suboptimal pre- and peri-conception microenvir...

Background Genomic imprinting is a heritable and developmentally essential phenomenon by which gene expression occurs in an allele-specific manner1. While the imprinted alleles are primarily silenced by DNA methylation, it remains largely unknown how methylation is targeted to imprinting control region (ICR), also called differentially methylated region (DMR), and maintained. Here we show that ...

In mammals, both parental genomes are essential for normal ontogeny because epigenetic modifications imposed in the parents' gametes lead to parent-of-origin specific gene expression in their offspring. These phenomena are referred to as genomic imprinting. It has been shown that maternal imprinting is established during oocyte growth, lack of maternal imprinting in zygotes leads to early embry...

Genomic imprinting is widespread in eutherian mammals. Marsupial mammals also have genomic imprinting, but in fewer loci. It has long been thought that genomic imprinting is somehow related to placentation and/or viviparity in mammals, although neither is restricted to mammals. Most imprinted genes are expressed in the placenta. There is no evidence for genomic imprinting in the egg-laying mono...

We present a one-locus model that breaks two symmetries of Mendelian genetics. Whereas symmetry of transmission is breached by allowing sex-specific segregation distortion, symmetry of expression is breached by allowing genomic imprinting. Simple conditions for the existence of at least one polymorphic stable equilibrium are provided. In general, population mean fitness is not maximized at poly...

BACKGROUND Genomic imprinting is the inheritance out of Mendelian borders. Many of inherited diseases and human development violates Mendelian law of inheritance, this way of inheriting is studied by epigenetics. AIM The aim of this review is to analyze current opinions and options regarding to this way of inheriting. RESULTS Epigenetics shows that gene expression undergoes changes more com...

Adult height is a highly heritable trait. Here we identified 31.6 million sequence variants by whole-genome sequencing of 8,453 Icelanders and tested them for association with adult height by imputing them into 88,835 Icelanders. Here we discovered 13 novel height associations by testing four different models including parent-of-origin (|β|=0.4-10.6 cm). The minor alleles of three parent-of-ori...