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genome at 23 ICRs identified so far. Despite the paucity of these elements,
they require the intervention of highly specialized protein complexes, which
alternatively protect against DNA methylation loss or against DNA
methylation gain.
While they are completely different in nature, the preimplantation
ZFP57/KAP1 system and the postimplantation transcription factor-based
system similarly rely on DNA sequence features. This coincidence illustrates
that genomic imprinting, which is considered as one of the most important
paradigms of epigenetic regulation, relies in part on genetic information for
its selective maintenance during development. This genetic determinism
further implies that sequence variation during evolution may act to shape
the number of ICRs and the extent of parental epigenetic asymmetry.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Research in the Bourc'his lab is supported by the Schlumberger Foundation, the Agence
Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR), and a EURYI Award. R. D. acknowledges the
Institut Curie for her International PhD program fellowship.
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