Revealing the evolutionary origin of genomic imprinting 

Some of our genes can be expressed or silenced depending on whether we inherited them from our mother or our father. The mechanism behind this phenomenon, known as genomic imprinting, is determined by DNA modifications during ...

When mothers shut down the fathers' genes in plant embryos

In humans, and many other species, both genes inherited from the mother and from the father influence how embryos develop. In the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, however, the mother has total control, as researchers from ...

Mother's touch lingers in her child's genes

Mothers leave their mark on their children in many ways—and WEHI researchers have discovered a protein called SMCHD1 is involved in this 'imprinting' process.

Is virgin birth possible? Yes (unless you are a mammal)

Christmas seems an appropriate time to ask whether it's biologically possible to have a virgin birth. And you may be surprised to hear that it is possible – just not for humans, or any other mammals.

Bees fight to a stalemate in the battle of the sexes

Just like humans, whether or not some genes are switched on in bumblebees is a result of a battle of the sexes between genes inherited from their mother and genes inherited from their father.

Dad's genes build placentas, study shows

Though placentas support the fetus and mother, it turns out that the organ grows according to blueprints from dad, says new Cornell research. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in ...

Express yourself: How zygotes sort out imprinted genes

Writing in the February 17, 2012 issue of the journal Cell, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Toronto Western Research Institute peel ...

page 1 from 2