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In: Biology

Why are sexually reproducing organisms that use genetic imprinting unlikely to be able reproduce asexually (focus...

Why are sexually reproducing organisms that use genetic imprinting unlikely to be able reproduce asexually (focus on the problems genetic imprinting causes)? Similarly, why does genetic imprinting cause difficulties with regard to cloning organisms? Explain.

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Expert Solution

Why are sexually reproducing organisms that use genetic imprinting unlikely to be able reproduce asexually (focus on the problems genetic imprinting causes)?

Genomic imprinting is used in sexual reproduction but not in asexual reproduction because, in mammals the absence of a paternally imprinted chromosome set in embryos (either from male or female parents) would lead to the overexpression and/or lack of expression of imprinted loci which might be lethal. Similarly In plants, imprinting is also vital in preventing parthenogenesis, but here, it is mainly the endosperm rather than the embryo where an imbalance of expression of maternally and paternally derived genomes leads to failure of development. Hence for the correct growth and development of cloned organism the some of the gene or loci are need to be methylated for imprinting and this phenomenon is epigenetic and inheritate from generation to generation .

Why does genetic imprinting cause difficulties with regard to cloning organisms?

Recently, the role and implication of DNA methylation found to be a major factor in genomic imprinting. In embryo, Methylation patterns in cloned embryos are not identical to those in natural embryos and this has been already established for most of the successfully cloned animals. Methylation usually depressed eukaryotic genes that are not required in a particular tissue or at a particular stage in growth and development. It is also involved in imprinting, where the regulatory mechanism that activates only either maternal or paternal gene copies but not the both. Hence incorrect imprinting leads aberrant fetal growth and development in embryos derived from cloning. For the successful cloning the correct pattern of imprinting is necessary and it is possible only through the DNA methylation mechanism.


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