Human–Ovine Comparative Sequencing of a 250-kb Imprinted Domain Encompassing the Callipyge (clpg) Locus and Identification of Six Imprinted Transcripts: DLK1, DAT, GTL2, PEG11, antiPEG11, and MEG8

Abstract

Two ovine BAC clones and a connecting long-range PCR product, jointly spanning ∼250 kb and representing most of theMULGE5-OY3 marker interval known to contain the clpglocus, were completely sequenced. The resulting genomic sequence was aligned with its human ortholog and extensively annotated. Six transcripts, four of which were novel, were predicted to originate from within the analyzed region and their existence confirmed experimentally: DLK1, DAT, GTL2, PEG11, antiPEG11, and MEG8. RT-PCR experiments performed on a range of tissues sampled from an 8-wk-old animal demonstrated the preferential expression of all six transcripts in skeletal muscle, which suggests that they are under control of common regulatory elements. The six transcripts were also shown to be subject to parental imprinting: DLK1, DAT, andPEG11 were shown to be paternally expressed and GTL2,antiPEG11, and MEG8 to be maternally expressed.[The sequence data described in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank data library under accession no. AF354168.]