Epigenetic silencing in vertebrates evolution and function from the bottom-up

Epigenetic silencing refers to gene regulation via chromatin modification, and includes genomic imprinting and X-chromosome inactivation. Most work on this phenomenon is restricted to model mammals such as human and mouse, so practically nothing is known about it in other animals. Comparing epigenetic silencing (its distribution, mode, and controlling machinery) between distantly related species is critical to our understanding of it. Australia is a wonderful repository of species uniquely valuable for comparative work (including monotreme mammals, birds and reptiles) which we will make use of to discover how wide spread epigenetic silencing is, how it evolved and how it is controlled.