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Imprinted genes influence a wide range of biological processes, the effects of which extend from prenatal stages to adulthood. This Review discusses the role of imprinted genes, with a focus on postnatal and adult phenotypes, and their contribution to common diseases such as intrauterine growth restriction, obesity, psychiatric disorders and cancer.
Among rodent species, there is a wide diversity in lifespans and cancer susceptibilities, which makes comparative studies of rodents an attractive strategy for identifying molecular mechanisms that underlie ageing and cancer. This Review describes the various biological insights provided by comparative rodent genomics, including those from whole-genome sequencing of long-lived and highly cancer-resistant species. Such progress has potential implications for understanding and modulating human disease.
This Review introduces the biological barriers to gene deliveryin vivoand discusses recent advances in material sciences, nanotechnology and nucleic acid chemistry that have yielded promising non-viral systems for the delivery of DNA, mRNA, small interfering RNAs and microRNAs, some of which are currently undergoing testing in clinical trials.
The field of cancer genomics has been transformed by recent advances in sequencing and the development of new computational methods. This Review outlines the available cancer genomics software and describes recent insights gained from the application of these tools.
