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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
The Evolution Of Genomic Imprinting: Theories, Predictions And Empirical Tests, M M. Patten, L Ross, J P. Curley, David C. Queller, R Bonduriansky, J B. Wolf
The Evolution Of Genomic Imprinting: Theories, Predictions And Empirical Tests, M M. Patten, L Ross, J P. Curley, David C. Queller, R Bonduriansky, J B. Wolf
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
The epigenetic phenomenon of genomic imprinting has motivated the development of numerous theories for its evolutionary origins and genomic distribution. In this review, we examine the three theories that have best withstood theoretical and empirical scrutiny. These are: Haig and colleagues’ kinship theory; Day and Bonduriansky’s sexual antagonism theory; and Wolf and Hager’s maternal–offspring coadaptation theory. These theories have fundamentally different perspectives on the adaptive significance of imprinting. The kinship theory views imprinting as a mechanism to change gene dosage, with imprinting evolving because of the differential effect that gene dosage has on the fitness of matrilineal and patrilineal relatives. …