Retrotransposon silencing by DNA methylation can drive mammalian genomic imprinting

Shunsuke Suzuki, Ryuichi Ono, Takanori Narita, Andrew J. Pask, Geoffrey Shaw, Changshan Wang, Takashi Kohda, Amber E. Alsop, Jennifer A. Marshall Graves, Yuji Kohara, Fumitoshi Ishino*, Marilyn B. Renfree, Tomoko Kaneko-Ishino

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    173 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Among mammals, only eutherians and marsupials are viviparous and have genomic imprinting that leads to parent-of-origin-specific differential gene expression. We used comparative analysis to investigate the origin of genomic imprinting in mammals. PEG10 (paternally expressed 10) is a retrotransposon- derived imprinted gene that has an essential role for the formation of the placenta of the mouse. Here, we show that an orthologue of PEG10 exists in another therian mammal, the marsupial tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii), but not in a prototherian mammal, the egg-laying platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), suggesting its close relationship to the origin of placentation in therian mammals. We have discovered a hitherto missing link of the imprinting mechanism between eutherians and marsupials because tammar PEG10 is the first example of a differentially methylated region (DMR) associated with genomic imprinting in marsupials. Surprisingly, the marsupial DMR was strictly limited to the 5′ region of PEG10, unlike the eutherian DMR, which covers the promoter regions of both PEG10 and the adjacent imprinted gene SGCE. These results not only demonstrate a common origin of the DMR-associated imprinting mechanism in therian mammals but provide the first demonstration that DMR-associated genomic imprinting in eutherians can originate from the repression of exogenous DNA sequences and/or retrotransposons by DNA methylation.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)E55
    JournalPLoS Genetics
    Volume3
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Apr 2007

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Retrotransposon silencing by DNA methylation can drive mammalian genomic imprinting'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this