科研之友
微信
新浪微博
Facebook
分享链接
摘要
In mammals, one of the two X chromosomes in female cells is transcriptionally silenced for dosage compensation between the sexes. Chromosome-wide silencing is initiated by the non-coding Xist RNA that accumulates within the inactive X chromosome territory and triggers gene repression and chromatin modifications. Epigenetic changes of the inactive X chromosome in a developmentally regulated manner result in stable gene repression in female somatic cells. X inactivation is a model for understanding the formation of facultative heterochromatin in mammalian development and represents a paradigm for RNA mediated regulation of gene expression. In this review, we summarize the present knowledge of the mechanism of chromosome-wide silencing and give an outlook on future directions.
- 出版日期2011-8
