title: Imprinted green beards: a little less than kin and more than kind.
abstract: RNA is complementary to the DNA sequence from which it is transcribed. Therefore, interactions between DNA and RNA provide a simple mechanism of genetic self-detection within nuclei. Imprinted RNAs could enable alleles of maternal and paternal origin to detect whether they are the same (homozygous) or different (heterozygous), and thereby provide strategic information about expected relatedness to siblings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, , 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Haig
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D005810:Multigene Family; D009154:Mutation; D011336:Probability; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA
keywords: green beards; imprinting; inclusive fitness; relatedness; siRNA