Publications by authors named "Kim L McIntyre"
Article Synopsis
- X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is an epigenetic phenomenon where one X chromosome in females is silenced, differing between eutherian (random silencing) and marsupial mammals (always paternal silencing).
- In eutherians, the inactive X shows high DNA methylation at key sites, while marsupials have lower methylation levels on the paternal X.
- The study focused on the tammar wallaby's X chromosome during sperm development, finding that the paternal X has a DNA methylation profile similar to the inactive X in female tissues, suggesting it may serve as an imprint for paternal XCI in marsupials.
Heteromorphic sex chromosomes (XY or ZW) present problems of gene dosage imbalance between sexes and with autosomes. A need for dosage compensation has long been thought to be critical in vertebrates. However, this was questioned by findings of unequal mRNA abundance measurements in monotreme mammals and birds.
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- * Scientists studied the RSX interactome and found 135 proteins linked to it, with 54 of those being similar to proteins connected to XIST.
- * Both RSX and XIST are involved in similar processes that help control how genes are used in cells, showing that even different animals can have similar genetic functions that evolved separately.
DNA methylation is a key epigenetic modification in vertebrate genomes known to be involved in the regulation of gene expression, X chromosome inactivation, genomic imprinting, chromatin structure, and control of transposable elements. DNA methylation is common to all eukaryote genomes, but we still lack a complete understanding of the variation in DNA methylation patterns on sex chromosomes and between the sexes in diverse species. To better understand sex chromosome DNA methylation patterns between different amniote vertebrates, we review literature that has analyzed the genome-wide distribution of DNA methylation in mammals and birds.
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