Entrez PubMed

1: Genome Res. 2006 May 10; [Epub ahead of print] Related Articles, Links: An epigenetic state associated with areas of gene duplication.

Gimelbrant AA, Chess A.

Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.

Asynchronous DNA replication is an epigenetically determined feature found in all cases of monoallelic expression, including genomic imprinting, X-inactivation, and random monoallelic expression of autosomal genes such as immunoglobulins and olfactory receptor genes. Most genes of the latter class were identified in experiments focused on genes functioning in the chemosensory and immune systems. We performed an unbiased survey of asynchronous replication in the mouse genome, excluding known asynchronously replicated genes. Fully 10% (eight of 80) of the genes tested exhibited asynchronous replication. A common feature of the newly identified asynchronously replicated areas is their proximity to areas of tandem gene duplication. Testing of other clustered areas supported the idea that such regions are enriched with asynchronously replicated genes.

PMID: 16687731 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]