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Hsu CL et. al. (2018) Analysis of experience-regulated trancriptome and imprintome during critical periods of mouse visual system development reveals spatiotemporal dynamics. Human Molecular Genetics. Jan 15. (Epub ahead of print)

Abstract


Visual system development is light-experience dependent, which strongly implicates epigenetic mechanisms in light-regulated maturation. Among many epigenetic processes, genomic imprinting is an epigenetic mechanism through which monoallelic gene expression occurs in a parent-of-origin-specific manner. It is unknown if genomic imprinting contributes to visual system development. We profiled the transcriptome and imprintome during critical periods of mouse visual system development under normal- and dark-rearing conditions using B6/CAST F1 hybrid mice. We identified experience-regulated, isoform-specific, and brain region-specific imprinted genes. We also found imprinted microRNAs were predominantly clustered into the Dlk1-Dio3 imprinted locus with light experience affecting some imprinted miRNA expression. Our findings provide the first comprehensive analysis of light-experience regulation of the transcriptome and imprintome during critical periods of visual system development. Our results may contribute to therapeutic strategies for visual impairments and circadian rhythm disorders resulting from a dysfunctional imprintome.

Link (https://academic.oup.com/hmg/advance-article/doi/10.1093/hmg/ddy023/4810718).