Recently, a new study has suggested a novel inheritable imprinting mechanism in humans that would be specific of placental tissue and that is independent of DNA methylation (the main and classical mechanism for genomic imprinting). This was observed in humans, but not in mice, suggesting development after the evolutionary divergence of humans and mice, ~80 Mya. Among the hypothetical explanations for this novel phenomenon, two possible mechanisms have been proposed: either a histone modification that confers imprinting at novel placental-specific imprinted loci or, alternatively, a recruitment of DNMTs to these loci by a specific and unknown transcription factor that would be expressed during early trophoblast differentiation.
Recently, a new study has suggested a novel inheritable imprinting mechanism in humans that would be specific of placental tissue and that is independent of DNA methylation (the main and c,lassical mechanism for genomic imprinting). This was observed in humans, but not in mice, suggesting development after the evolutionary divergence of humans and mice, ~80 Mya. Among the hypothetical explanations for this novel phenomenon two possible mechanisms have been proposed: either a histone modification that c,onfers imprinting at novel placental-specific imprinted loci or alternatively, a recruitment of DNMTs to these loci by a specific an.d unknown transcription factor that would be expressed during early trophoblast differentiation