Genomic imprinting on the X chromosome: implications for brain and behavioral phenotypes

Imprinted genes, in contrast to most mammalian genes, are monoallelically expressed in a parent-of-origin dependent manner. The idiosyncratic expression profile associated with imprinted genes arises from the differential epigenetic marking of the alleles in the paternal and maternal germlines. Although small in number, imprinted genes can profoundly influence key developmental and physiological processes, including those in the brain; work in animal models and in humans has shown that such genes can affect behavioral traits and cognition and may confer vulnerability to common mental illnesses. As a consequence of how the X chromosome is inherited, X-linked imprinting may elicit or indeed attenuate sexually dimorphic phenotypes. Thus, studying X-linked imprinting is likely to provide important general information about the evolutionary and mechanistic underpinnings of imprinting, as well as the molecular processes underlying sex-specific neurobiology and sex-biased vulnerability to psychiatric disorders.