Background: Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic chromosomal modification in the gametes or zygotes that results in a non-random monoallelic expression of specific autosomal genes depending upon their parent of origin. Approximately 44 human genes have been reported to be imprinted. A majority of them are clustered, including some on chromosome segment 11p15.5. We report here the imprinting status of the SLC22A1LS gene from the human chromosome segment 11p15.5
Results: In order to test for allele specific expression patterns, PCR primer sets from the SLC22A1LS gene were used to look for heterozygosity in DNA samples from 17 spontaneous abortuses using PCR-SSCP and DNA sequence analyses. cDNA samples from different tissues of spontaneous abortuses showing heterozygosity were subjected to PCR-SSCP analysis to determine the allele specific expression pattern. PCR-SSCP analysis revealed heterozygosity in two of the 17 abortuses examined. DNA sequence analysis showed that the heterozygosity is caused by a G>A change at nucleotide position 473 (c.473G>A) in exon 4 of the SLC22A1LS gene. PCR-SSCP analysis suggested that this gene is paternally imprinted in five fetal tissues examined.
Conclusions: This study reports the imprinting status of the SLC22A1LS gene for the first time. The results suggest imprinting of the paternal allele of this gene in five fetal tissues: brain, liver, placenta, kidneys and lungs.