title: Epigenetic regulation of mammalian imprinted genes: from primary to functional imprints.
abstract: Parental genomic imprinting was discovered in mammals some 20 years ago. This phenomenon, crucial for normal development, rapidly became a key to understanding epigenetic regulation of mammalian gene expression. In this chapter we present a general overview of the field and describe in detail the 'imprinting cycle'. We provide selected examples that recapitulate our current knowledge of epigenetic regulation at imprinted loci. These epigenetic mechanisms lead to the stable repression of imprinted genes on one parental allele by interfering with 'formatting' for gene expression that usually occurs on expressed alleles. From this perspective, genomic imprinting remarkably illustrates the complexity of the epigenetic mechanisms involved in the control of gene expression in mammals.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, UMR5535 CNRS-UMII, IFR122, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Michaël
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hagège
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aptel
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brunel
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cathala
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Forné
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004261:DNA Replication; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D008957:Models, Genetic
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin