Establishment and maintenance of DNA methylation patterns in mouse Ndn: implications for maintenance of imprinting in target genes of the imprinting center.

ABSTRACT: Ndn is located on chromosome 7C, an imprinted region of the mouse genome. Imprinting of Ndn and adjacent paternally expressed genes is regulated by a regional imprinting control element known as the imprinting center (IC). An IC also controls imprint resetting of target genes in the region of conserved synteny on human chromosome 15q11-q13, which is deleted or rearranged in the neurodevelopmental disorder Prader-Willi syndrome. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, which occur in gametes and can be stably propagated, are presumed to establish and maintain the imprint in target genes of the IC. While most DNA becomes substantially demethylated by the blastocyst stage, some imprinted genes have regions that escape global demethylation and may maintain the imprint. We have now ana

SUBMITTER: Hanel ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC86871 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature