Neuron: Cells react differently to genetic imprints.

27, 2019 // It is well known that we inherited half of our genes from our mother and the other half from our father.for the function of most genes, it doesn't matter which parent the gene comes from.but this is not true for all genes: about 150 genes are affected by "genomic imprinting", which means they are either active only when inherited from the mother or only when they inherit from the father.most of these "print" genes are important to our development.Simon Hippenmeyer, a professor at the Austrian Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria), and his team, including Postdoc Susanne Laukoter and senior laboratory technician Florian Pauler, have shown that brain cells respond very differently to genomic imprints, depending on cell type.results were published in the journal Neuron. Previous research by(photo source:has shown that the imprintgene is more active in some tissues and less active in others.neuroscientists led by Hippenmeyer have found that in some cell types, imprinted genes in the cortex are also expressed more, i.e., more active.to study the effects of gene activity on this change, the researchers used the MADM technology developed by Hippenmeyer. "This technology allows us to color-code cells while simultaneously increasing or lowering gene expression levels," explainsSusanne Laukoter.in our experiment, we doubled the expression of insatiable genes in some cells, and in others we completely shut down their expression.so we were able to observe the cell's response to changes in gene doses at a single cell level." researchers found that cells respond to changes in the dose of the imprintgene by activating certain genomes, especially those that are important for cell death, growth, and synaptic formation.this reaction is strongest in the cell type of astrocytes, a type of glial cell that supports neurons.detailed analysis showed that some parent genes always had a higher number of astrocytes in double doses than the corresponding parent gene.this difference exists throughout the brain's development. Florian Pauler,explains, "Genomic imprinting protects cells from cell death by double dose of parent gene, or mother gene double dose accelerates cell death."" earlier studies have shown a link between genomic imprinting and cell death, and newly published studies now show that the link depends on cell type and is particularly strong in astrocytecells.neurons with dual mother genes do not respond to changes in cell death, but form different connections and networks.Simon Hippenmeyer explains the results.", "Each cell type reacts differently to duality, i.e. there are two parent or two parent genes."" it could also be important to humans." Prader-Willi syndrome and Angelman syndrome are caused by repeated fragments of the chromosomes that are imprinted.each organ responds differently to repetition.hope that if we can better understand cell type-specific responses, there may be targeted treatments in the future."Hippenmeyer reports that the study also addresses a long-standing debate in neurobiology about how many genes are imprinted on the genome in the brain.", dozens of genes in the cerebral cortex are imprinted and significantly affect development." () Source: Cells React Changely to Genomic Simprinting Original Origins: Susanne Laukoter, Florian M. Pauler, Robert Beattie, Nicole Amberg, Andi H. Hansen, Carmen Streicher, Thomas Penz, Christoph Bock, Simon Penmeyer. Cell-Type Specificity of The Genomic Simprinting in Cerebral Cortex. Neuron, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.06.031.