Journal article
Postmeiotic Sex Chromatin in the Male Germline of Mice
Current biology, Vol.16(7), pp.660-667
2006
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/112377
PMID: 16581510
Abstract
In mammals, the X and Y chromosomes are subject to meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI) during prophase I in the male germline, but their status thereafter is currently unclear. An abundance of X-linked spermatogenesis genes has spawned the view that the X must be active
[1–8]. On the other hand, the idea that the imprinted paternal X of the early embryo may be preinactivated by MSCI suggests that silencing may persist longer
[9–12]. To clarify this issue, we establish a comprehensive X-expression profile during mouse spermatogenesis. Here, we discover that the X and Y occupy a novel compartment in the postmeiotic spermatid and adopt a non-Rabl configuration. We demonstrate that this postmeiotic sex chromatin (PMSC) persists throughout spermiogenesis into mature sperm and exhibits epigenetic similarity to the XY body. In the spermatid, 87% of X-linked genes remain suppressed postmeiotically, while autosomes are largely active. We conclude that chromosome-wide X silencing continues from meiosis to the end of spermiogenesis, and we discuss implications for proposed mechanisms of imprinted X-inactivation.
Metrics
16 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Postmeiotic Sex Chromatin in the Male Germline of Mice
- Creators
- Satoshi H Namekawa - Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114Peter J Park - Children's Hospital Informatics Program, Harvard-Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics, Boston, Massachusetts 02115Li-Feng Zhang - Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114James E Shima - Center for Reproductive Biology, School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164John R McCarrey - Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78249Michael D Griswold - Center for Reproductive Biology, School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164Jeannie T Lee - Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
- Publication Details
- Current biology, Vol.16(7), pp.660-667
- Academic Unit
- Molecular Biosciences, School of
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Identifiers
- 99900547339301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article