Intronic parent-of-origin dependent differential methylation at the Actn1 gene is conserved in rodents but is not associated with imprinted expression.

Parent-of-origin differential DNA methylation has been associated with regulation of the preferential expression of paternal or maternal alleles of imprinted genes. Based on this association, recent studies have searched for parent-of-origin dependent differentially methylated regions in order to identify new imprinted genes in their vicinity. In a previous genome-wide analysis of mouse brain DNA methylation, we found a novel differentially methylated region in a CpG island located in the last intron of the alpha 1 Actinin (Actn1) gene.