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Research progress in allele-specific expression and its regulatory mechanisms

  • Animal Genetics • Review
  • Published:
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Abstract

Although the majority of genes are expressed equally from both alleles, some genes are differentially expressed. Organisms possess characteristics to preferentially express a particular allele under regulatory factors, which is termed allele-specific expression (ASE). It is one of the important genetic factors that lead to phenotypic variation and can be used to identify the variance of gene regulation factors. ASE indicates mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs function. Here, we review a broad survey of progress in ASE studies, and what this simple yet very effective approach can offer in functional genomics, and possible implications toward our better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of complex traits.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (2012M511596), the project of Hubei Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Center (2011-620-001-003), and the open project of Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding (2012ZD145).

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  1. Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yaoyuan No. 1, Nanhu, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430064, People’s Republic of China

    Uma Gaur, Shuqi Mei & Guisheng Liu

  2. Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding, Yaoyuan No. 1, Nanhu, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430064, People’s Republic of China

    Uma Gaur, Shuqi Mei & Guisheng Liu

  3. Beijing Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Malianwa, Haidian District, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Kui Li

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  1. Uma Gaur
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Correspondence to Guisheng Liu.

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Gaur, U., Li, K., Mei, S. et al. Research progress in allele-specific expression and its regulatory mechanisms. J Appl Genetics 54, 271–283 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-013-0148-y

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