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Journal ArticleDOI

X-chromosome inactivation: counting, choice and initiation

TLDR
In many sexually dimorphic species, a mechanism is required to ensure equivalent levels of gene expression from the sex chromosomes, and in mammals, such dosage compensation is achieved by X-chromosome inactivation, a process that presents a unique medley of biological puzzles.
Abstract
In many sexually dimorphic species, a mechanism is required to ensure equivalent levels of gene expression from the sex chromosomes. In mammals, such dosage compensation is achieved by X-chromosome inactivation, a process that presents a unique medley of biological puzzles: how to silence one but not the other X chromosome in the same nucleus; how to count the number of X's and keep only one active; how to choose which X chromosome is inactivated; and how to establish this silent state rapidly and efficiently during early development. The key to most of these puzzles lies in a unique locus, the X-inactivation centre and a remarkable RNA — Xist — that it encodes.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Circadian clocks and natural antisense RNA

TL;DR: This review concentrates on the few examples of antisense clock gene transcripts so far investigated and their effect on circadian timing, suggesting that mechanisms of gene regulation operating through antisense RNA may also be integral to the circadian clockwork.
Journal ArticleDOI

Control of Xist expression for imprinted and random X chromosome inactivation in mice

TL;DR: Applying RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization to parthenogenetic embryos with two maternally derived X (X(M)) chromosomes and embryos with X chromosome aneuploidy and X(P)0, data suggest that imprinted X-inactivation in non-epiblast tissues of rodents had been derived from the random X- inactivation system.
Journal ArticleDOI

In pursuit of scientific excellence: sex matters.

TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-modelling study of the determinants of infectious disease in eight coronavirus outbreaks over a 10-year period in the United States and Europe.
Book ChapterDOI

Considerations of sex and gender differences in preclinical and clinical trials.

TL;DR: Women continue to be underrepresented in clinical trials, particularly in Phases I and II of experimental drug studies in spite of legislative guidelines in the USA, Canada, the European Union, Australia, and Japan requiring the inclusion of women inclinical trials.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Rett syndrome is caused by mutations in X-linked MECP2, encoding methyl-CpG-binding protein 2.

TL;DR: This study reports the first disease-causing mutations in RTT and points to abnormal epigenetic regulation as the mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of RTT.
Journal ArticleDOI

Demethylation of the zygotic paternal genome

TL;DR: It is shown that the paternal genome in the mouse is significantly and actively demethylated within 6–8 hours of fertilization, before the onset of DNA replication, whereas the maternal genome is dem methylated after several cleavage divisions.
Journal ArticleDOI

Requirement for Xist in X chromosome inactivation

TL;DR: Evidence for gene targeting of Xist, the proposed candidate for the X inactivation centre, is provided, and its absolute requirement in the process of X chromosome inactivation is provided.
Journal ArticleDOI

Chromosome instability and immunodeficiency syndrome caused by mutations in a DNA methyltransferase gene.

TL;DR: It is shown that five unrelated ICF patients have mutations in both alleles of the gene that encodes DNA methyltransferase 3B (refs 5, 6), which is the only genetic disorder known to involve constitutive abnormalities of genomic methylation patterns.
Journal ArticleDOI

Tsix , a gene antisense to Xist at the X-inactivation centre

TL;DR: Tsix RNA is a 40-kb RNA originating 15 kb downstream of Xist and transcribed across the Xist locus and has features suggesting a role in regulating the early steps of X inactivation, but not the silencing step.
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