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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
16
pubmed:dateCreated
2009-7-24
pubmed:abstractText
Genomic imprinting may have evolved not only to regulate fetal growth and development, but also behaviour. The mouse Grb10 gene provides a remarkable model to explore this idea because it shows paternal expression in brain, whereas in the placenta and most other embryonic tissues, expression is from the maternal allele. To assess the biological relevance of this reciprocal pattern of imprinting, we explored its conservation in humans. As in mice, we find the human GRB10 gene to be paternally expressed in brain. Maternal allele-specific expression is conserved only in the placental villous trophoblasts, an essential part of the placenta involved in nutrient transfer. All other fetal tissues tested showed equal expression from both alleles. These data suggest that the maternal GRB10 expression in placenta is evolutionarily important, presumably in the control of fetal growth. As in the mouse, the maternal transcripts originate from several kilobases upstream of the imprinting control region (ICR) of the domain, from a promoter region at which we find no allelic chromatin differences. The brain-specific paternal expression from the ICR shows mechanistic similarities with the mouse as well. This conserved CpG island is DNA-methylated on the maternal allele and is marked on the paternal allele by developmentally regulated bivalent chromatin, with the presence of both H3 lysine-4 and H3 lysine-27 methylation. The strong conservation of the opposite allelic expression in placenta versus brain supports the hypothesis that GRB10 imprinting evolved to mediate diverse roles in mammalian growth and behaviour.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Aug
pubmed:issn
1460-2083
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:day
15
pubmed:volume
18
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
3066-74
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Aborted Fetus, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Aged, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Alleles, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Base Sequence, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Brain, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Cells, Cultured, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Cohort Studies, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Evolution, Molecular, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Female, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-GRB10 Adaptor Protein, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Genomic Imprinting, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Histones, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Humans, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Infant, Newborn, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Male, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Middle Aged, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Molecular Sequence Data, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Placenta, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Promoter Regions, Genetic, pubmed-meshheading:19487367-Trophoblasts
pubmed:year
2009
pubmed:articleTitle
Reciprocal imprinting of human GRB10 in placental trophoblast and brain: evolutionary conservation of reversed allelic expression.
pubmed:affiliation
Clinical and Molecular Genetics Unit, Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK. dmonk@iconcologia.net
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't