NYSCF – Robertson Investigator Studies Genetic Imprinting
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NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Dr. Christopher Gregg, University of Utah, published his latest work on parental genetic imprinting in mice. The research, published in Cell Reports, describes how so-called noncanonical imprinting, meaning targeted and subtle unequal genetic imprinting, is prevalent in the brains of mice and skews the genetic message in subpopulations of cells leading to either the father or mother’s genes having a larger, disproportionate say. The researchers showed this mechanism can influence behavior and appears to be preferred as compared to classic imprinting.
This work studies the influence of genetics at the cellular level, as compared to the level of the whole animal, and may lead to insights into neural behavior and disorders, such as autism.