Identification and characterisation of imprinted genes in the mouse.

Imprinted genes are expressed specifically from one or other parental allele. Over 70 are now known, and about one-half of these are expressed from the paternal allele and one-half from the maternal allele. Most imprinted genes are clustered within imprinting regions of the mouse genome, regions which are associated with abnormal phenotypes when inherited uniparentally. Imprinted genes have been identified from surveys based on differential expression or differential methylation according to parental origin, as well as analyses of candidate genes, mutants and imprinted gene clusters. Many imprinted genes affect growth and development, and more than 25 per cent determine non-coding RNAs that may have a function in controlling imprinted gene expression.