Expression of H19 does not influence the timing of replication of the Igf2/H19 imprinted region

Expression and replication timing patterns of wildtype and translocated BCL2 genes

Translocation of the BCL2 gene from chromosome 18 to chromosome 14 results in constitutive expression of the gene. We have recently demonstrated that the major breakpoint region (mbr) of BCL2, which is implicated in 70% of t(14;18) translocations present in human follicular lymphoma, is a matrix attachment region. Since these regions are implicated in control of both transcription and replication, we wished to determine whether BCL2 translocation was also accompanied by changes in replication timing of the translocated allele. Using both fluorescence in situ hybridization and allele-specific PCR, we have demonstrated that the translocated allele replicates at the G1/S boundary, while the wildtype allele continues to replicate as usual in mid-S phase. These differences are accompanied by allele-specific changes in BCL2 expression. Since the net structural effect of t(14;18) translocations within the mbr is to disrupt the BCL2 MAR and replace it with the IGH MARs located just downstream of each breakpoint, we conclude that MAR exchange is a significant, selectable outcome of these translocations. We propose that subsequent changes of replication and transcriptional patterns for the translocated BCL2 allele result from this exchange and represent important early steps in lymphomagenesis.

Parental alleles of an imprinted mouse transgene replicate synchronously

Molecular features of imprinted genes include differences in expression, methylation, and the timing of DNA replication between parental alleles. Whereas methylation differences always seem to be associated with differences in expression, differences in the timing of replication between parental homologs are not always seen at imprinted loci. These observations raise the possibility that differences in replication timing may not be an essential feature underlying genomic imprinting. In this study, we examined the timing of replication of the two alleles of the imprinted RSVIgmyc transgene in individual embryonic cells using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The cis-acting signals for RSVIgmyc imprinting are within RSVIgmyc itself. Thus, allele-specific differences in replication, if they indeed govern RSVIgmyc imprinting, should be found in RSVIgmyc sequences. We found that the parental alleles of RSVIgmyc, which exhibit differences in methylation, replicated at the same time. Synchronous replication was also seen in embryonic cells containing a modified version of RSVIgmyc that exhibited parental allele differences in both methylation and expression. These findings indicate that maintenance of expression and methylation differences between alleles does not require a difference in replication timing. The differences in replication timing of endogenous imprinted alleles detected by FISH might therefore reflect structural differences between the two alleles that could be a consequence of imprinting or, alternatively, could be unrelated to imprinting.

Alterations of H19 imprinting and IGF2 replication timing are infrequent in Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is an overgrowth disorder resulting from dysregulation of multiple imprinted genes through a variety of distinct mechanisms. A frequent alteration in BWS involves changes in the imprinting status of the coordinately regulated IGF2 and H19 genes on 11p15. Patients have been categorized according to alterations in the imprinted expression, allele-specific methylation, and regional replication timing of these genes. In this work, IGF2/H19 expression, H19 DNA methylation, and IGF2 regional replication timing were studied in nine karyotypically normal BWS fibroblasts and two BWS patients with maternally inherited 11p15 chromosomal rearrangements. Informative patients (9/9) maintained normal monoallelic H19 expression/methylation, despite biallelic IGF2 expression in 6/9. Replication timing studies revealed no changes in the pattern of asynchronous replication timing for both a patient with biallelic IGF2 expression and a patient carrying an 11p15 inversion. In contrast, a patient with a chromosome 11;22 translocation and normal H19 expression/methylation exhibited partial loss of asynchrony and a shift toward earlier replication times. These results indicate that in BWS, (1) H19 imprinting alterations are less frequent than previously estimated, (2) IGF2 imprinting and H19 imprinting are not necessarily coordinated, and (3) alterations in regional replication timing are generally not correlated with either chromosomal rearrangements or the imprinting status of IGF2 and H19.

Asynchronous replication of imprinted genes is established in the gametes and maintained during development

Genomic imprinting is characterized by allele-specific expression of multiple genes within large chromosomal domains that undergo DNA replication asynchronously during S phase. Here we show, using both fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis and S-phase fractionation techniques, that differential replication timing is associated with imprinted genes in a variety of cell types, and is already present in the pre-implantation embryo soon after fertilization. This pattern is erased before meiosis in the germ line, and parent-specific replication timing is then reset in late gametogenesis in both the male and female. Thus, asynchronous replication timing is established in the gametes and maintained throughout development, indicating that it may function as a primary epigenetic marker for distinguishing between the parental alleles.

The mouse H19 locus mediates a transition between imprinted and non-imprinted DNA replication patterns

Genes subject to genomic imprinting generally occur in clusters of hundreds of kilobases. These domains exhibit several gamete of origin-dependent manifestations, including a pattern of asynchronous replication when studied by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). We find a transition from asynchronous replication at the imprinted mouse H19 gene to synchronous replication at the downstream Rpl23 gene, the human homologue of which appears to be non-imprinted. Two-colour FISH demonstrates that this transition is due solely to a difference in replication timing between the upstream and downstream chromatin on the later-replicating (maternal) chromosome. This difference is lost in mice deleted for the H19 gene body and 9.9 kb of upstream DNA when this deletion is maternally inherited, with synchronous replication patterns extending over 110 kb upstream from the deleted area. No effect is seen when the deletion is paternally inherited. The presence of a boundary element in this region has been suggested by observations of position-independent expression of H19 -containing transgenes and the blocking of accessibility of downstream enhancers to the upstream Igf2 and Ins2 genes on the maternal chromosome. The FISH studies presented here demonstrate the insulation of replication patterns within the imprinted domain from downstream, non-imprinted chromatin, mediated by an element at the H19 locus which is subject to genomic imprinting.