1.
J Biol Chem
; 279(10): 9389-91, 2004 Mar 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-14688268
ABSTRACT
The size of the CAG tract at the Huntington's disease (HD) locus upon transmission depends on the gender of the parent. However, the basis for the parent-of-origin effect is unknown. To test whether expansion and contraction in HD are "imprinted" in the germ cells, we isolated the X- and Y-bearing sperm of HD transgenic mice. Here we show that CAG repeat distributions in the X- and Y-bearing spermatozoa of founding fathers do not differ. These data show that gender-dependent changes in CAG repeat length arise in the embryo.