| First Author | Rassoulzadegan M | Year | 2007 |
| Journal | Biochem Soc Trans | Volume | 35 |
| Issue | Pt 3 | Pages | 623-5 |
| PubMed ID | 17511665 | Mgi Jnum | J:124811 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3722563 | Doi | 10.1042/BST0350623 |
| Citation | Rassoulzadegan M, et al. (2007) Inheritance of an epigenetic change in the mouse: a new role for RNA. Biochem Soc Trans 35(Pt 3):623-5 |
| abstractText | Hereditary epigenetic variation, initially recognized and studied extensively in plants, had not been reported in mammals until recently. We have now identified the Kit locus as the first example of a paramutable gene of the mouse. Kit(+/+) homozygotes born from Kit(tm1Alf)(/+) heterozygotes maintain and transmit to their progeny the white-spotted phenotype characteristic of the mutant heterozygote. Our observation of unusual amounts of RNA in the sperm of the paramutated (Kit*) males had led us to consider the possibility of RNA-mediated inheritance. A role for RNA was supported further by the efficient establishment of the epigenetic modification following microinjection in one-cell embryos of either sperm RNA of the paramutated males or of the Kit-specific microRNAs miR-221 and -222. In this article, we describe the phenotypes associated with the wild-type genome in the Kit* paramutated animals. Paramutation may be considered to be one possibility of epigenetic modification in the case of familial disease predispositions that are not fully accounted for by Mendelian analysis. |
