A biological process known as genomic imprinting helps control early mammalian development by turning genes on and off as the embryo and placenta grow. Errors in genomic imprinting can cause severe disorders and profound developmental defects that lead to lifelong health problems, yet the mechanisms behind these critical gene-regulating processes — and the glitches that cause them to go awry — have not been well understood.

Now, scientists at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Boston Children’s Hospital have identified a mechanism that regulates the imprinting of multiple genes, including some of those critical to placental growth during early embryonic development in mice. The results were reported yesterday in Nature.

“A gene that is turned off by epigenetic modifications can be turned on much more easily than a gene that is mutated or missing can be fixed,” said Yi Zhang, PhD, a senior investigator in the Boston Children’s Program in Molecular and Cellular Medicine, a professor of pediatrics at HMS and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “Our discovery sheds new light on a fundamental biological mechanism and can lay the groundwork for therapeutic advances.” …