Journal
NATURE
Volume 450, Issue 7167, Pages 238-U3Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nature06330
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Funding
- Intramural NIH HHS [Z01 DK015600-12] Funding Source: Medline
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X chromosomes evolve differently from autosomes, but general governing principles have not emerged(1). For example, genes with male-biased expression are under-represented on the X chromosome of D. melanogaster(2), but are randomly distributed in the genome of Anopheles gambiae(3). In direct global profiling experiments using species-specific microarrays, we find a nearly identical paucity of genes with male-biased expression on D. melanogaster, D. simulans, D. yakuba, D. ananassae, D. virilis and D. mojavensis X chromosomes. We observe the same under-representation on the neo-X of D. pseudoobscura. It has been suggested that precocious meiotic silencing of the X chromosome accounts for reduced X chromosome male-biased expression in nematodes(4), mammals(5) and Drosophila(6). We show that X chromosome genes with male-biased expression are under-represented in somatic cells and in mitotic male germ cells. These data are incompatible with simple X chromosome inactivation models. Using expression profiling and comparative sequence analysis, we show that selective gene extinction on the X chromosome, creation of new genes on autosomes and changed genomic location of existing genes contribute to the unusual X chromosome gene content.
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