Abstract
Epigenetic regulation plays essential roles in development and disease and may become perturbed as a consequence of dietary and environ mental factors [1]. One of the best characterized epigenetic phenomena in ma mmals is genomic imprinting, a mechanism through which many genes become ex pressed from one of their two parental alleles only [2]. (Epi)genetic perturbation of imprinting affects development and growth and is causally involved in different disease syndromes. lmprinted genes are organised in conserved domains, each regulated by an "imprinting control region". These 'ICRs' acquire their allelic DNA methylation imprints in either sperm or the oocyte [2]. This process is linked to transcription and specifie chromatin features [3]. At several (ICRs, we and others found that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) mediate chromatin silencing in cis. Currently, we explore whether during development, ncRNAs can be involved in imprinted gene activation as well.
