Identification of Marsupial-Specific Genomic Imprinting Loci

2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20710145
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: 基礎ゲノム科学
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
• Principal Investigator: SUZUKI Shunsuke Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 難治疾患研究所, 特任教員 (30431951)
• Project Period (FY): 2008 – 2009
• Keywords: インプリンティング / ゲノム刷り込み / 有袋類

Research Abstract

Genomic imprinting is a unique regulatory mechanism of gene expression, causes monoallelic gene expression by silencing of one of two genes derived from both parents. In higher vertebrates, only mammals have genomic imprinting and it is essential for normal embryonic development. However, monoallelic gene expression has a critical demerit in that only one hit of recessive mutations could lead abnormal phenotypes immediately. In this research, we have developed the novel approach identifying imprinted loci from marsupial genomic DNA as the first step to investigate why and how genomic imprinting arose in mammalian evolution.