Microprocessor dynamics and interactions at endogenous imprinted C19MC microRNA genes

Microprocessor dynamics and interactions at endogenous imprinted C19MC microRNA genes.

Nuclear primary microRNA (pri-miRNA) processing catalyzed by the DGCR8-Drosha (Microprocessor) complex is highly regulated. Little is known, however, about how microRNA biogenesis is spatially organized within the mammalian nucleus. Here, we image for the first time, in living cells and at the level of a single microRNA cluster, the intranuclear distribution of untagged, endogenously-expressed ...

The primate-specific microRNA gene cluster (C19MC) is imprinted in the placenta.

Imprinted genes play crucial roles in mammalian development and disruption of their expression is associated with many human disorders including tumourigenesis; yet, the actual number of imprinted genes in the human genome remains a matter of debate. Here, we report on the unexpected finding that the chromosome 19 microRNA cluster (C19MC), the largest human microRNA gene cluster discovered so f...

Microprocessor mediates transcriptional termination in long noncoding microRNA genes

Imprinted genes, cognition and behaviour.

The idea that genes can influence behavioural predispositions and their underlying psychological determinants is becoming increasingly tractable. In this article, recent findings are reviewed on a special type of inheritance, related to the transmission of traits via what have been termed 'imprinted' genes. In imprinted genes one allele is silenced according to its parental origin. This results...

Classification of Imprinted Genes

Diploid organisms have two copies of all genes. Each copy is inherited from one of the two parents of the organism. In most diploid organisms the genes are bi-allelically expressed i.e. both inherited copies of the gene are functional. However, a subset of mammalian genes are monoallelically expressed depending on the parent-of-origin. Either the copy inherited from the mother or the one from t...