[ **up: [[Genetics]]** ] --- # Genomic imprinting > Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon that causes genes to be expressed or not, depending on whether they are inherited from the female or male parent.[^1] **Three main theories:** 1. Haig and colleagues’ kinship theory ([Haig and Westoby, 1989](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4105453/#bib27); [Haig, 2000a](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4105453/#bib21), [2004](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4105453/#bib24)) 2. sexual antagonism theory ([Day and Bonduriansky's (2004)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4105453/#bib10); see also [Bonduriansky, 2007](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4105453/#bib3)) 3. maternal–offspring co-adaption theory ([Wolf and Hager's (2006)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4105453/#bib73); see also [Wolf and Hager, 2009](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4105453/#bib74); [Wolf, 2013](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4105453/#bib68)) > “Although these theories rest on different logic and fundamental assumptions, they share a critical common feature: some process creates a selective asymmetry between the maternally and paternally inherited allelic copies at a locus that causes selection to favor differential expression of the alleles (typically silencing of one of the copies).”[^2] [^1]: ‘Genomic imprinting’, *Wikipedia*, updated 12 December 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genomic_imprinting. [^2]: M.M. Patten, et al., ‘The evolution of genomic imprinting: theories, predictions and empirical tests’, *Heredity (Edinb.)*, vol. 113, issue 2 (23 April 2014), pp. 119–128. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2014.29.