摘要表遗传学效应是复杂性状变异的重要来源,其研究领域涵盖极其广泛,包括基因组印记、母体效应、基因沉默等.母体效应包含很多方面的因素,如细胞质因子、母体子宫内环境等.基因印记则是由于遗传的表观修饰.母体效应和基因印记可以导致相似的表型效应,但是两者的基因表达类型和进化动力学明显不同.理解和区分基因印记和母体效应的不同,对研究个体发育、认知能力的遗传基础和进化动力学有重要意义,有助于更快的寻找复杂性状相关的基因.本文主要介绍母体效应和基因印记的作用方式及如何区分它们.

abstractsEpigenetic effect, which covers abroad fields, is the important source of the variations of complex traits. It contains maternal effects, genomic imprinting, gene silencing and so on. Maternal effects result from many different aspects, such as the cytoplasmic factors, intrauterine environment and so on. Genomic imprinting is the epigenic modification of the genes. Maternal effects are often confounded with genomic imprinting because they can produce the same patterns of pheriotypic variation expected for various forms of imprinting.They have entirely different patterns of gene expression and evolutionary dynamics. Understanding the distinction between genomic imprinting and maternal effects has considerable significance for research on the genetic basis of individual development, cognitive abilities as well as for our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics associated with them. This distinction will also be crucial for identifying the underlying genes causal to such effects. The article will mainly introduce the manners in which the maternal effects and genomic imprinting affect the offspring's phenotypes and the differences between them.