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Sex-Specific Parent-of-Origin Allelic Expression in the Mouse Brain

2010; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 329; Issue: 5992 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1190831

1095-9203

Christopher Gregg, Jiangwen Zhang, J. E. Butler, David Haig, Catherine Dulac,

Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics

Genomic imprinting results in preferential gene expression from paternally versus maternally inherited chromosomes. We used a genome-wide approach to uncover sex-specific parent-of-origin allelic effects in the adult mouse brain. Our study identified preferential selection of the maternally inherited X chromosome in glutamatergic neurons of the female cortex. Moreover, analysis of the cortex and hypothalamus identified 347 autosomal genes with sex-specific imprinting features. In the hypothalamus, sex-specific imprinted genes were mostly found in females, which suggests parental influence over the hypothalamic function of daughters. We show that interleukin-18, a gene linked to diseases with sex-specific prevalence, is subject to complex, regional, and sex-specific parental effects in the brain. Parent-of-origin effects thus provide new avenues for investigation of sexual dimorphism in brain function and disease.