Identification of variably expressed genes in isogenic mice and humans

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/211058

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Monozygotic twins are known to have different phenotypic characteristics even though they contain identical genetic information. It is not uncommon for identical twins to have different coloured eyes and to show discordance for genetic diseases. While there is no definitive explanation for these differences they are generally thought to be caused by subtle changes in environmental conditions. We believe however, that these differences are set up during early embryonic development by the establishment of epigenetic modifications to the DNA. An epigenetic modification is a mark which determines whether a gene is expressed (switched on) or silent (switched off). The establishment of the mark appears to be a stochastic event which can result in different physical characteristics between genetically identical individuals. We would like to study this process in inbred mouse strains and in humans. Inbred mouse strains are maintained by inbreeding (brother-sister mating) to ensure that all individuals of the strain are isogenic (genetically identical) and in such a way that environmental variation is minimised. We will use established molecular techniques to find genes which are variably expressed among isogenic mice and humans. This work will enable us to discover genes which are sensitive to epigenetic modifications and whose epigenotype must be known if we are able to predict phenotype or disease state.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2002

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $293,080.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Gene Expression

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Rett Syndrome | cancer | cytosine methylation | discordance in twins | epigenetic gene silencing | eukaryotic gene expression | genetic disease

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