Work

X-Chromosome Kiss and Tell: How the Xs Go Their Separate Ways

Year: 2006

Type: preprint

Abstract: Loci associated with noncoding RNAs have important roles in X-chromosome inactivation (XCI), the dosage compensation mechanism by which one of two X chromosomes in female cells becomes transcriptionally silenced. The Xs start out as epigenetically equivalent chromosomes, but XCI requires a cell to treat two identical X chromosomes in completely different ways: One X chromosome must remain transcriptionally active while the other becomes repressed. In the embryo of eutherian mammals, the choice to inactivate the maternal or paternal X chromosome is random. The fact that the Xs always adopt opposite fates hints at the existence of a trans-sensing mechanism to ensure the mutually exclusive silencing of one of the two Xs. This paper highlights recent evidence supporting a model for mutually exclusive choice that involves homologous chromosome pairing and the placement of asymmetric chromatin marks on the two Xs.

Source: Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology

DOI: 10.1101/sqb.2006.71.012

Authors: M.C. ANGUERA, B.K. SUN, N. XU, J.T. LEE

Institutions: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Awards: G6860688614, Transcriptional Silencing of the X-chromosome