Alexander I Shevchenko, Irina S Zakharova, Eugeny A Elisaphenko, Nicolay N Kolesnikov, Siobhan Whitehead, Christine Bird, Mark Ross, Jennifer R Weidman, Randy L Jirtle, Tatiana V Karamysheva, Nicolay B Rubtsov, John L VandeBerg, Nina A Mazurok, Tatyana B Nesterova, Neil Brockdorff, Suren M Zakian
X inactivation, the transcriptional silencing of one of the two X chromosomes in female mammals, achieves dosage compensation of X-linked genes relative to XY males. In eutherian mammals X inactivation is regulated by the X-inactive specific transcript (Xist), a cis-acting non-coding RNA that triggers silencing of the chromosome from which it is transcribed. Marsupial mammals also undergo X inactivation but the mechanism is relatively poorly understood. We set out to analyse the X chromosome in Monodelphis domestica and Didelphis virginiana, focusing on characterizing the interval defined by the Chic1 and Slc16a2 genes that in eutherians flank the Xist locus...
2007: Chromosome Research