X Chromosome Inactivation during Drosophila Spermatogenesis.

@article{citeulike:1817850, abstract = {Genes with male- and testis-enriched expression are under-represented on the Drosophila melanogaster X chromosome. There is also an excess of retrotransposed genes, many of which are expressed in testis, that have "escaped" the X chromosome and moved to the autosomes. It has been proposed that inactivation of the X chromosome during spermatogenesis contributes to these patterns: genes with a beneficial function late in spermatogenesis should be selectively favored to be autosomal in order to avoid inactivation. However, conclusive evidence for X inactivation in the male germline has been lacking. To test for such inactivation, we used a transgenic construct in which expression of a lacZ reporter gene was driven by the promoter sequence of the autosomal, testis-specific ocnus gene. Autosomal insertions of this transgene showed the expected pattern of male- and testis-specific expression. X-linked insertions, in contrast, showed only very low levels of reporter gene expression. Thus, we find that X linkage inhibits the activity of a testis-specific promoter. We obtained the same result using a vector in which the transgene was flanked by chromosomal insulator sequences. These results are consistent with global inactivation of the X chromosome in the male germline and support a selective explanation for X chromosome avoidance of genes with beneficial effects late in spermatogenesis.}, author = {Hense, Winfried and Baines, John F F. and Parsch, John }, citeulike-article-id = {1817850}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.0050273}, issn = {1545-7885}, journal = {PLoS Biol}, keywords = {drosophila, x\_inactivation}, month = {October}, number = {10}, posted-at = {2007-10-25 01:13:13}, priority = {2}, title = {X Chromosome Inactivation during Drosophila Spermatogenesis.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050273}, volume = {5}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1817850 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1817850 TI - X Chromosome Inactivation during Drosophila Spermatogenesis. JF - PLoS Biol VL - 5 IS - 10 SN - 1545-7885 N2 - Genes with male- and testis-enriched expression are under-represented on the Drosophila melanogaster X chromosome. There is also an excess of retrotransposed genes, many of which are expressed in testis, that have "escaped" the X chromosome and moved to the autosomes. It has been proposed that inactivation of the X chromosome during spermatogenesis contributes to these patterns: genes with a beneficial function late in spermatogenesis should be selectively favored to be autosomal in order to avoid inactivation. However, conclusive evidence for X inactivation in the male germline has been lacking. To test for such inactivation, we used a transgenic construct in which expression of a lacZ reporter gene was driven by the promoter sequence of the autosomal, testis-specific ocnus gene. Autosomal insertions of this transgene showed the expected pattern of male- and testis-specific expression. X-linked insertions, in contrast, showed only very low levels of reporter gene expression. Thus, we find that X linkage inhibits the activity of a testis-specific promoter. We obtained the same result using a vector in which the transgene was flanked by chromosomal insulator sequences. These results are consistent with global inactivation of the X chromosome in the male germline and support a selective explanation for X chromosome avoidance of genes with beneficial effects late in spermatogenesis. KW - drosophila KW - x_inactivation AU - Hense, Winfried AU - Baines, John F AU - Parsch, John PY - 2007/10/09/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050273 ER -