Genetic improvement schemes in livestock are based on the assumption that the expression of relevant genes is independent of parent of origin. Until now no evidence has been found to reject this assumption. The present study on three purebred pig populations, however, shows that a significant proportion of the phenotypic variance in backfat thickness (5-7%) can be explained by genes subject to paternal imprinting. The implication is that there are genes affecting backfat that are expressed only when derived from the paternal gamete. Paternal imprinted effects explained 1-4% of the phenotypic variation for growth rate. Maternal imprinted effects were heavily confounded with heritable maternal environmental effects. When modelled separately, these effects explained 2-5% and 3-4% of the phenotypic variance in backfat thickness and growth rate, respectively. Gametic imprinting may have consequences for the optimization of breeding programmes, especially in crossbreeding systems with specialized sire and dam lines.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00220813 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
How parental factors shape the plant embryo.
Biochem Soc Trans
January 2025
Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany.
Primary axis formation is the first step of embryonic patterning in flowering plants and recent findings highlight the importance of parent-of-origin effects in this process. Apical-basal patterning has a strong influence on suspensor development, an extra-embryonic organ involved in nutrient transport to the embryo at an early stage of seed development. The endosperm, a second fertilization product, nourishes the embryo at later stages of seed development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-canonical imprinting, manifesting as post-fertilization placenta-specific parent-of-origin dependent methylation, is not conserved in humans.
Hum Mol Genet
January 2025
Biomedical Research Centre, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Earlham Road, Norwich NR4 6PN, United Kingdom.
Genomic imprinting is the parent-of-origin dependent monoallelic expression of genes often associated with regions of germline-derived DNA methylation that are maintained as differentially methylated regions (gDMRs) in somatic tissues. This form of epigenetic regulation is highly conserved in mammals and is thought to have co-evolved with placentation. Tissue-specific gDMRs have been identified in human placenta, suggesting that species-specific imprinting dependent on unorthodox epigenetic establishment or maintenance may be more widespread than previously anticipated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvolutionary lineage-specific genomic imprinting at the ZNF791 locus.
PLoS Genet
January 2025
Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic process that results in parent-of-origin effects on mammalian development and growth. Research on genomic imprinting in domesticated animals has lagged due to a primary focus on orthologs of mouse and human imprinted genes. This emphasis has limited the discovery of imprinted genes specific to livestock.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDNA methylation modulates nucleosome retention in sperm and H3K4 methylation deposition in early mouse embryos.
Nat Commun
January 2025
Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Fabrikstrasse 24, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.
In the germ line and during early embryogenesis, DNA methylation (DNAme) undergoes global erasure and re-establishment to support germ cell and embryonic development. While DNAme acquisition during male germ cell development is essential for setting genomic DNA methylation imprints, other intergenerational roles for paternal DNAme in defining embryonic chromatin are unknown. Through conditional gene deletion of the de novo DNA methyltransferases Dnmt3a and/or Dnmt3b, we observe that DNMT3A primarily safeguards against DNA hypomethylation in undifferentiated spermatogonia, while DNMT3B catalyzes de novo DNAme during spermatogonial differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFControlled Dynamic Microfluidic Culture of Murine, Bovine, and Human Embryos Improves Development: Proof-of-Concept Studies.
Cells
December 2024
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan, 1500 E. Medical Center Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0617, USA.
Classical preimplantation embryo culture is performed in static fluid environments. Whether a dynamic fluid environment, like the fallopian tube, is beneficial for embryo development remains to be determined across mammalian species. Objectives of these proof-of-concept studies were to determine if controllable dynamic microfluidic culture would enhance preimplantation murine, bovine, and human embryo development compared to static culture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!