Sequence-based bioinformatic prediction and QUASEP identify genomic imprinting of the KCNK9 potassium channel gene in mouse and human

Genomic imprinting is the epigenetic marking of gene subsets resulting in monoallelic or predominant expression of one of the two parental alleles according to their parental origin. We describe the systematic experimental verification of a prioritized 16 candidate imprinted gene set predicted by sequence-based bioinformatic analyses. We used Quantification of Allele-Specific Expression by Pyrosequencing (QUASEP) and discovered maternal-specific imprinted expression of the Kcnk9 gene as well as strain-dependent preferential expression of the Rarres1 gene in E11.5 (C57BL/6 3 Cast/Ei)F1 and informative (C57BL/6 3 Cast/ Ei) 3 C57BL/6 backcross mouse embryos. For the remaining 14 candidate impr…