Detrimental effects of two active X chromosomes on early mouse development

Development ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Takagi ◽  
K. Abe

Matings between female mice carrying Searle's translocation, T(X;16)16H, and normal males give rise to chromosomally unbalanced zygotes with two complete sets of autosomes, one normal X chromosome and one X16 translocation chromosome (XnX16 embryos). Since X chromosome inactivation does not occur in these embryos, probably due to the lack of the inactivation center on X16, XnX16 embryos are functionally disomic for the proximal 63% of the X chromosome and trisomic for the distal segment of chromosome 16. Developmental abnormalities found in XnX16 embryos include: (1) growth retardation detected as early as stage 9, (2) continual loss of embryonic ectoderm cells either by death or by expulsion into the proamniotic cavity, (3) underdevelopment of the ectoplacental cone throughout the course of development, (4) very limited, if any, mesoderm formation, (5) failure in early organogenesis including the embryo, amnion, chorion and yolk sac. Death occurred at 10 days p.c. Since the combination of XO and trisomy 16 does not severely affect early mouse development, it is likely that regulatory mechanisms essential for early embryogenesis do not function correctly in XnX16 embryos due to activity of the extra X chromosome segment of X16.

Development ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 969-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Shao ◽  
N. Takagi

An extra copy of the X chromosome, unlike autosomes, exerts only minor effects on development in mammals including man and mice, because all X chromosomes except one are genetically inactivated. Contrary to this contention, we found that an additional maternally derived X (XM) chromosome, but probably not a paternally derived one (XP), consistently contributes to early death of 41,XXY and 41,XXX embryos in mice. Because of imprinted resistance to inactivation, two doses of XM remain active in the trophectoderm, and seem to be responsible for the failure in the development of the ectoplacental cone and extraembryonic ectoderm, and hence, from early embryonic death. Discordant observations in man indicating viability of XMXMXP and XMXMY individuals suggest that imprinting on the human X chromosome is either weak, unstable or erased before the initiation of X-inactivation in progenitors of extraembryonic membranes.


Development ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 143 (16) ◽  
pp. 2958-2964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shin Kobayashi ◽  
Yusuke Hosoi ◽  
Hirosuke Shiura ◽  
Kazuo Yamagata ◽  
Saori Takahashi ◽  
...  

Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (14) ◽  
pp. 3455-3468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic P. Norris ◽  
Jane Brennan ◽  
Elizabeth K. Bikoff ◽  
Elizabeth J. Robertson

The TGFβ-related growth factor Nodal governs anteroposterior (AP) and left-right (LR) axis formation in the vertebrate embryo. A conserved intronic enhancer (ASE), containing binding sites for the fork head transcription factor Foxh1, modulates dynamic patterns of Nodal expression during early mouse development. This enhancer is responsible for early activation of Nodal expression in the epiblast and visceral endoderm, and at later stages governs asymmetric expression during LR axis formation. We demonstrate ASE activity is strictly Foxh1 dependent. Loss of this autoregulatory enhancer eliminates transcription in the visceral endoderm and decreases Nodal expression in the epiblast, but causes surprisingly discrete developmental abnormalities. Thus lowering the level of Nodal signaling in the epiblast disrupts both orientation of the AP axis and specification of the definitive endoderm. Targeted removal of the ASE also dramatically reduces left-sided Nodal expression, but the early events controlling LR axis specification are correctly initiated. However loss of the ASE disrupts Lefty2 (Leftb) expression and causes delayed Pitx2 expression leading to late onset, relatively minor LR patterning defects. The feedback loop is thus essential for maintenance of Nodal signals that selectively regulate target gene expression in a temporally and spatially controlled fashion in the mouse embryo.


Author(s):  
Antonio Lentini ◽  
Christos Coucoravas ◽  
Nathanael Andrews ◽  
Martin Enge ◽  
Qiaolin Deng ◽  
...  

AbstractMammalian X-chromosome dosage balance is regulated by X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) and X-chromosome upregulation (XCU), but the dynamics of XCU as well as the interplay between the two mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we mapped XCU throughout early mouse embryonic development at cellular and allelic resolution, revealing sex- and lineage-specific dynamics along key events in X-chromosome regulation. Our data show that XCU is linearly proportional to the degree of XCI, indicating that dosage compensation ensues based on mRNA levels rather than number of active X chromosomes. In line with this, we reveal that the two active X chromosomes in female naïve embryonic stem cells are not hyperactive as previously thought. In all lineages, XCU was underlain by increased transcriptional burst frequencies, providing a mechanistic basis in vivo. Together, our results demonstrate unappreciated flexibility of XCU in balancing X-chromosome expression, and we propose a general model for allelic dosage balance, applicable for wider mechanisms of transcriptional regulation.


1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 8513-8525 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Debrand ◽  
C. Chureau ◽  
D. Arnaud ◽  
P. Avner ◽  
E. Heard

ABSTRACT X inactivation in female mammals is controlled by a key locus on the X chromosome, the X-inactivation center (Xic). The Xic controls the initiation and propagation of inactivation in cis. It also ensures that the correct number of X chromosomes undergo inactivation (counting) and determines which X chromosome becomes inactivated (choice). The Xist gene maps to the Xic region and is essential for the initiation of X inactivation in cis. Regulatory elements of X inactivation have been proposed to lie 3′ toXist. One such element, lying 15 kb downstream ofXist, is the DXPas34 locus, which was first identified as a result of its hypermethylation on the active X chromosome and the correlation of its methylation level with allelism at the X-controlling element (Xce), a locus known to affect choice. In this study, we have tested the potential function of theDXPas34 locus in Xist regulation and X-inactivation initiation by deleting it in the context of largeXist-containing yeast artificial chromosome transgenes. Deletion of DXPas34 eliminates both Xistexpression and antisense transcription present in this region in undifferentiated ES cells. It also leads to nonrandom inactivation of the deleted transgene upon differentiation. DXPas34 thus appears to be a critical regulator of Xist activity and X inactivation. The expression pattern of DXPas34 during early embryonic development, which we report here, further suggests that it could be implicated in the regulation of imprintedXist expression.


eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Wang ◽  
JongDae Shin ◽  
Jeremy M Shea ◽  
Jun Yu ◽  
Ana Bošković ◽  
...  

Mammalian X-linked gene expression is highly regulated as female cells contain two and male one X chromosome (X). To adjust the X gene dosage between genders, female mouse preimplantation embryos undergo an imprinted form of X chromosome inactivation (iXCI) that requires both Rlim (also known as Rnf12) and the long non-coding RNA Xist. Moreover, it is thought that gene expression from the single active X is upregulated to correct for bi-allelic autosomal (A) gene expression. We have combined mouse genetics with RNA-seq on single mouse embryos to investigate functions of Rlim on the temporal regulation of iXCI and Xist. Our results reveal crucial roles of Rlim for the maintenance of high Xist RNA levels, Xist clouds and X-silencing in female embryos at blastocyst stages, while initial Xist expression appears Rlim-independent. We find further that X/A upregulation is initiated in early male and female preimplantation embryos.


Development ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 127 (11) ◽  
pp. 2283-2289 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Costanzi ◽  
P. Stein ◽  
D.M. Worrad ◽  
R.M. Schultz ◽  
J.R. Pehrson

MacroH2As are core histone proteins with a hybrid structure consisting of a domain that closely resembles a full-length histone H2A followed by a large nonhistone domain. We recently showed that one of the macroH2A subtypes, macroH2A1.2, is concentrated in the inactive X chromosome in adult female mammals. Here we examine the timing of the association of macroH2A1.2 with the inactive X chromosome during preimplantation mouse development in order to assess the possibility that macroH2A1 participates in the initiation of X inactivation. The association of macroH2A1.2 with one of the X chromosomes was observed in 50% of blastocysts, occurring mostly, if not exclusively, in extraembryonic cells as was expected from previous studies, which indicated that X inactivation in embryonic lineages happens after implantation. Examination of earlier embryonic stages indicates that the association of macroH2A1 with the inactive X chromosome begins between the 8- and 16-cell stages. Of the changes that are known to happen during X inactivation in preimplantation embryos, the accumulation of macroH2A1 appears to be the earliest marker of the inactive X chromosome and is the only change that has been shown to occur during the period when transcriptional silencing is initiated.


Cell Reports ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 2593-2607.e3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shangli Cheng ◽  
Yu Pei ◽  
Liqun He ◽  
Guangdun Peng ◽  
Björn Reinius ◽  
...  

Genome ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Frankham

For X–Y exchange to be of importance in the coevolution of X and Y rDNA, there must be a mechanism to maintain cytologically normal X chromosomes in the face of continual infusions of X.YL chromosomes produced by X–Y exchanges. Replicated populations were founded with different frequencies of isogenic X and X.YL chromosomes. The X.YL chromosome declined in frequency over time in all lines. Relative fitnesses, estimated from chromosome frequency trajectories, were 0.40, 1.01, and 1.0 for X.YL/X.YL, X.YL/X, and X/X females and 0.75 and 1.0 for X.YL/Y and X/Y males, respectively. The equilibrium frequency for the X.YL chromosome due to the balance between X–Y exchange and selection was predicted to be 4–16 × 10−4. The results strengthen the evidence for the involvement of X–Y exchange in the coevolution of X and Y rDNA arrays. Conditions for the evolution of reproductive isolation by sex-chromosome translocation are much less probable than previously supposed since the X.YL translocation chromosome is at a selective disadvantage to cytologically normal X chromosomes. Additional heterochromatin was not neutral but was only deleterious beyond a threshold, as one dose of the heterochromatic XL arm did not reduce female reproductive fitness, but two doses did.Key words: Drosophila, rRNA, heterochromatin, fitness, speciation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetsushi Komoto ◽  
Masashi Fujii ◽  
Akinori Awazu

X chromosome inactivation center (Xic) pairing is robustly observed during the differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells from female mouse embryos, and this process is related to X chromosome inactivation, the circadian clock, intra-nucleus architecture, and metabolism. However, the mechanisms underlying the identification and approach of X chromosome pairs in the crowded nucleus are unclear. To elucidate the driving force of Xic pairing, we developed a coarse-grained molecular dynamics model of intranuclear chromosomes in ES cells and in cells 2 days after the onset of differentiation (2-days cells) by considering intrachromosome epigenetic-structural feature-dependent mechanics. The analysis of the experimental data showed X-chromosomes change to specifically softer than autosomes during the cell differentiation by the rearrangement of their distributions of open-close chromatin regions, and the simulations of these models exhibited such softening promoted the mutual approach of the Xic pair. These findings suggested that local intrachromosomal epigenetic features may contribute to the regulation of cell species-dependent differences in intranuclear architecture.


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