What is the genomic conflict hypothesis for the origin of genomic
imprinting?
Genomic imprinting is a phenomenon of inheritance which is independent of the Mendelian inheritance. This process causes the genes to express in the parent of origin specific manner. Genomic imprinting involves histone methylation and DNA methylation without changing the genetic sequence. Forms of this phenomenon have been exhibited in animals, plants, and fungi.
There are many theories for the observed patterns of the genomic imprinting but the genetic conflict hypothesis is the most successful explanation for the genomic imprinting. It is also known as Kinship hypothesis. This hypothesis states that genomic imprinting is a result of a conflict between the maternally and paternally derived genes. It means inequality between the parental genomes because of genomic imprinting is a result of the differing interests of both the parents regarding the evolutionary fitness of their genes.
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