Question

How does genomic imprinting relate to the concept of epigenetics?

Answer 1

Genome imprinting is a process where a gene is differentially expressed depending on whether it has been inherited from the mother or from the father. Such “parent-of-origin” effects are known to occur only in sexually reproducing placental mammals.

Complete answer:
Imprinting is one of a number of patterns of inheritance which do not follow the traditional Mendelian rules of inheritance that assume indifference about the parental origin of an allele.
Epigenetics is the part of biology that studies heritable phenotype changes that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon that causes genes to express in a way that is specific to their parent of origin.

Genes, on the other hand, can be partially imprinted. Partial imprinting occurs when alleles from both parents are expressed differently rather than complete expression and suppression of one parent's allele. Forms of genomic imprinting have been observed in fungi, plants, and animals.

For instance, crossing a male tiger with a female lion creates a tigon, which is about a similar size as one or the other parent; nonetheless, the complementary cross delivers a liger, which is known for its extraordinary size. Another prominent model is the donkey, a half and half of a male jackass and a female pony. It has been known for centuries that the hinny, which is the lesser-known complementary half and half, varies astoundingly in appearance from the donkey.

Note: By chemically modifying DNA and/or altering chromatin structure, genomic imprinting influences gene expression. Genomic imprinting frequently results in a gene being expressed only on the chromosome inherited from one or both parents.