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Genome imprinting regulated by the mouse Polycomb group protein Eed

Nature Genetics volume 33, pages 502–507 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Epigenetic regulation is essential for temporal, tissue-specific and parent-of-origin–dependent gene expression. It has recently been found that the mouse Polycomb group (PcG) gene Eed (embryonic ectoderm development) acts to maintain repression of the imprinted X chromosome. Here, we investigated whether Eed is also required for regulation of autosomal imprinted loci. Expression analyses showed that transcripts from the silent alleles of a subset of paternally repressed genes were present in Eed−/− embryos. Parent-of-origin methylation was preserved in these embryos, but we observed changes in the methylation status of specific CpGs in differentially methylated regions (DMRs) at affected but not at unaffected loci. These data identify Eed as a member of a new class of trans-acting factors that regulate parent-of-origin expression at imprinted loci.

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Figure 1: Expression patterns of imprinted genes in wild-type (wt) and Eed−/− embryos.
Figure 2: Imprinted expression summary.
Figure 3: Cdkn1c CpG methylation.
Figure 4: Grb10 and Snrpn CpG methylation.
Figure 5: KvDMR1 CpG methylation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Threadgill for providing the initial stock of JF1 mice and J. Trasler and T. Bestor for PCR primers and protocols. N.D.M. is supported by a predoctoral fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. F.P.-M.V. is the recipient of a Junior Investigator award from the Andrew Mellon Foundation. This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation to F.P.-M.V. and by the US National Institutes of Health to T.M.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics and Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 103 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, 27599-7264, North Carolina, USA

    Jesse Mager, Nathan D. Montgomery, Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena & Terry Magnuson

  2. Carolina Center for Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 103 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, 27599-7264, North Carolina, USA

    Jesse Mager, Nathan D. Montgomery & Terry Magnuson

  3. Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 103 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, 27599-7264, North Carolina, USA

    Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena & Terry Magnuson

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  1. Jesse Mager
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  4. Terry Magnuson
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Correspondence to Terry Magnuson.

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Mager, J., Montgomery, N., de Villena, FM. et al. Genome imprinting regulated by the mouse Polycomb group protein Eed. Nat Genet 33, 502–507 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1125

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