title: Regulatory links between imprinted genes: evolutionary predictions and consequences.
abstract: Genomic imprinting is essential for development and growth and plays diverse roles in physiology and behaviour. Imprinted genes have traditionally been studied in isolation or in clusters with respect to cis-acting modes of gene regulation, both from a mechanistic and evolutionary point of view. Recent studies in mammals, however, reveal that imprinted genes are often co-regulated and are part of a gene network involved in the control of cellular proliferation and differentiation. Moreover, a subset of imprinted genes acts in trans on the expression of other imprinted genes. Numerous studies have modulated levels of imprinted gene expression to explore phenotypic and gene regulatory consequences. Increasingly, the applied genome-wide approaches highlight how perturbation of one imprinted gene may affect other maternally or paternally expressed genes. Here, we discuss these novel findings and consider evolutionary theories that offer a rationale for such intricate interactions among imprinted genes. An evolutionary view of these trans-regulatory effects provides a novel interpretation of the logic of gene networks within species and has implications for the origin of reproductive isolation between species.
authors: Department of Biology, Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA.
authors: Manus M
authors: MM
authors: Patten
authors: Center for Human Health and the Environment, Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Cowley
authors: Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, King's College London, London SE1 9RT, UK.
authors: Rebecca J
authors: RJ
authors: Oakey
authors: Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institute of Molecular Genetics (IGMM), 1919 route de Mende, Montpellier 34293, France University of Montpellier, 163 rue Auguste Broussonnet, Montpellier 34090, France Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan robert.feil@igmm.cnrs.fr.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Feil
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: evolution; gene network; genomic imprinting; trans regulation