Do imprinted genes have few and small introns?
A gene is described as imprinted if its pattern of expression depends on whether it passed the previous generation in a male or female germ line. A recent paper reports that imprinted genes have fewer and smaller introns than a control set of genes. The differences are striking but their interpretation is unclear. The loss of introns after a gene becomes imprinted is not sufficient to explain why imprinted genes have fewer introns than average, because related unimprinted genes also have few introns. Similarly, small introns appear to be a property of chromosomal region rather than of imprinting status itself, because neighboring unimprinted genes also have small introns.
Haig
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Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. dhaig@oeb.harvard.edu
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002877:Chromosomes, Human; D005260:Female; D015894:Genome, Human; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D012641:Selection, Genetic