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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Multiscale Structures Aggregated by Imprinted Nanofibers for Functional Surfaces
Published on: September 11, 2018
Aberrant imprinting may underlie evolution of parthenogenesis
Olga Kirioukhova1,2, Jubin N Shah1, Danaé S Larsen1
1University of Heidelberg, Centre for Organismal Studies, Laboratory of Germline Genetics & Evo-Devo, Heidelberg, Germany.
Abstract:
Genomic imprinting confers parent-of-origin-specific gene expression, thus non-equivalent and complementary function of parental genomes. As a consequence, genomic imprinting poses an epigenetic barrier to parthenogenesis in sexual organisms. We report aberrant imprinting in Boechera, a genus in which apomicts evolved from sexuals multiple times. Maternal activation of a MADS-box gene, a homolog of which is imprinted and paternally expressed in the sexual relative Arabidopsis, is accompanied by locus-specific DNA methylation changes in apomicts where parental imprinting seems to be relaxed.
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