ANALYSIS AND IDENTIFICATION OF IMPRINTED GENES

Genomic imprinting in mammals results in the unequal expression of the two parental alleles of specific genes. The existence of imprinting i n the mouse emerged from nuclear transplantation studies and from the abnormal phenotypes associated with uniparental inheritance of particu lar chromosome segments. Over the past 5 years, 20 or so imprinted gen es have been identified. This has emphasized the important roles playe d by some imprinted genes in development, permitted a description of t he epigenetic properties associated with imprinting, and provided the first insights into the regulation of imprinting. In this article, we discuss the generation of experimental material in which imprinting ef fects can be analyzed, review the properties of imprinted genes, and d iscuss how to examine them using state-of-the-art techniques. finally, we consider the means by which new imprinted genes can be identified. (C) 1998 Academic Press.