imprinting (genetics)

Genomic imprinting is a <a title="Genetics" href="/wiki/Genetics">genetic</a> phenomenon by which certain <a title="Gene" href="/wiki/Gene">genes</a> are <a title="Gene expression" href="/wiki/Gene_expression">expressed</a> in a <a title="Parent" href="/wiki/Parent">parent</a>-of-origin-specific manner. It is an inheritance process independent of the classical <a title="Mendelian inheritance" href="/wiki/Mendelian_inheritance">Mendelian inheritance</a>. Imprinted <a title="Allele" href="/wiki/Allele">alleles</a> are silenced such that the genes are either expressed only from the non-imprinted allele inherited from the mother, or in other instances from the non-imprinted allele inherited from the father.