Novel paternally expressed intergenic transcripts at the mouse Prader-Willi/Angelman Syndrome locus

Gene expression profiling was performed on central nervous system (CNS) tissue from neonatal mice carrying the T9H translocation and maternal or paternal duplication of proximal Chromosomes 7 and 15. Our analysis revealed the presence of two novel paternally expressed intergenic transcripts at the Prader-Willi/Angelman Syndrome (PW/AS) locus. The trmscripts were termed Pec2 and Pec3, for paternally expressed in the CNS. Imprinting of these transcripts was confirmed by sequencing of RT-PCR products in F-1 hybrids between Mus musculus musculus C57BL/6 and Mus musculus castaneus, following identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms between the two strains. Imprinting of Pec2 was also confirmed by Northern blot analysis. The two transcripts are separated by 0.5 Mb and are transcribed in the same orientation. They are located in a long interspersed transposable element (LINE)rich region midway between the PW/AS imprinting center and the paternally expressed genes Ndn, Magel2, and Mkrn3, which are under imprinting center control. Our analysis also revealed imprinting of Magel2, Mkrn3, Ndn, Ube3a, and Usp29, as well as Pec2 and Pec3, in embryonic brain 15.5 dpc, and provided a survey of biallelically expressed genes on proximal Chrs 7 and 15 in embryonic and neonatal CNS.