Cargando…

Maternally and Paternally Silenced Imprinted Genes Differ in Their Intron Content

Imprinted genes exhibit silencing of one of the parental alleles during embryonic development. In a previous study imprinted genes were found to have reduced intron content relative to a non-imprinted control set (Hurst et al., 1996). However, due to the small sample size, it was not possible to ana...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fahey, Marie E., Mills, Walter, Higgins, Desmond G., Moore, Tom
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2004
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2447473/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18629181
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cfg.437
_version_ 1782156947814875136
author Fahey, Marie E.
Mills, Walter
Higgins, Desmond G.
Moore, Tom
author_facet Fahey, Marie E.
Mills, Walter
Higgins, Desmond G.
Moore, Tom
author_sort Fahey, Marie E.
collection PubMed
description Imprinted genes exhibit silencing of one of the parental alleles during embryonic development. In a previous study imprinted genes were found to have reduced intron content relative to a non-imprinted control set (Hurst et al., 1996). However, due to the small sample size, it was not possible to analyse the source of this effect. Here, we re-investigate this observation using larger datasets of imprinted and control (non-imprinted) genes that allow us to consider mouse and human, and maternally and paternally silenced, imprinted genes separately. We find that, in the human and mouse, there is reduced intron content in the maternally silenced imprinted genes relative to a non-imprinted control set. Among imprinted genes, a strong bias is also observed in the distribution of intronless genes, which are found exclusively in the maternally silenced dataset. The paternally silenced dataset in the human is not different to the control set; however, the mouse paternally silenced dataset has more introns than the control group. A direct comparison of mouse maternally and paternally silenced imprinted gene datasets shows that they differ significantly with respect to a variety of intron-related parameters. We discuss a variety of possible explanations for our observations.
format Text
id pubmed-2447473
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2004
publisher Hindawi Publishing Corporation
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-24474732008-07-14 Maternally and Paternally Silenced Imprinted Genes Differ in Their Intron Content Fahey, Marie E. Mills, Walter Higgins, Desmond G. Moore, Tom Comp Funct Genomics Research Article Imprinted genes exhibit silencing of one of the parental alleles during embryonic development. In a previous study imprinted genes were found to have reduced intron content relative to a non-imprinted control set (Hurst et al., 1996). However, due to the small sample size, it was not possible to analyse the source of this effect. Here, we re-investigate this observation using larger datasets of imprinted and control (non-imprinted) genes that allow us to consider mouse and human, and maternally and paternally silenced, imprinted genes separately. We find that, in the human and mouse, there is reduced intron content in the maternally silenced imprinted genes relative to a non-imprinted control set. Among imprinted genes, a strong bias is also observed in the distribution of intronless genes, which are found exclusively in the maternally silenced dataset. The paternally silenced dataset in the human is not different to the control set; however, the mouse paternally silenced dataset has more introns than the control group. A direct comparison of mouse maternally and paternally silenced imprinted gene datasets shows that they differ significantly with respect to a variety of intron-related parameters. We discuss a variety of possible explanations for our observations. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2004-12 /pmc/articles/PMC2447473/ /pubmed/18629181 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cfg.437 Text en Copyright © 2004 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Fahey, Marie E.
Mills, Walter
Higgins, Desmond G.
Moore, Tom
Maternally and Paternally Silenced Imprinted Genes Differ in Their Intron Content
title Maternally and Paternally Silenced Imprinted Genes Differ in Their Intron Content
title_full Maternally and Paternally Silenced Imprinted Genes Differ in Their Intron Content
title_fullStr Maternally and Paternally Silenced Imprinted Genes Differ in Their Intron Content
title_full_unstemmed Maternally and Paternally Silenced Imprinted Genes Differ in Their Intron Content
title_short Maternally and Paternally Silenced Imprinted Genes Differ in Their Intron Content
title_sort maternally and paternally silenced imprinted genes differ in their intron content
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2447473/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18629181
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cfg.437
work_keys_str_mv AT faheymariee maternallyandpaternallysilencedimprintedgenesdifferintheirintroncontent
AT millswalter maternallyandpaternallysilencedimprintedgenesdifferintheirintroncontent
AT higginsdesmondg maternallyandpaternallysilencedimprintedgenesdifferintheirintroncontent
AT mooretom maternallyandpaternallysilencedimprintedgenesdifferintheirintroncontent