Livestock Studies 2015, Vol 55, Num, 2     (Pages: 073-081)

Epigenetic and genomic imprinting

Ömer Faruk GÜNGÖR 1 ,Necmettin ÜNAL 1

1 Ankara Üniversitesi, Veteriner Fakültesi, Zootekni Anabilim Dalı, Ankara - Production traits of livestock are controlled by a lot of genes. Epigenetic mechanisms have effects on the genes` expression. Epigenetic mechanisms cause changes genomic activity without any alterations in the DNA sequence. Genomic Imprinting which is one of epigenetic events is suppression of some genes` expression differs and this expression depending on which parent the gene is inherited from. Maternal genomic imprinting implies maternal allel is silenced while paternal genomic imprinting means paternal allel is silenced. Some imprinted genes in livestock were determined to have an influence on production characteristics. In this review, epigenetic and genomic imprinting will be discussed. Keywords : Epigenetic, genomic imprinting, methylation, IGF2, H19, callipyge