Journal article
Rsx is a metatherian RNA with Xist-like properties in X-chromosome inactivation
J Grant, SK Mahadevaiah, P Khil, MN Sangrithi, H Royo, J Duckworth, JR McCarrey, JL Vandeberg, MB Renfree, W Taylor, G Elgar, RD Camerini-Otero, MJ Gilchrist, JMA Turner
Nature | Published : 2012
DOI: 10.1038/nature11171
Abstract
In female (XX) mammals, one of the two X chromosomes is inactivated to ensure an equal dose of X-linked genes with males (XY). X-chromosome inactivation in eutherian mammals is mediated by the non-coding RNA Xist. Xist is not found in metatherians (marsupials), and how X-chromosome inactivation is initiated in these mammals has been the subject of speculation for decades. Using the marsupial Monodelphis domestica, here we identify Rsx (RNA-on-the-silent X), an RNA that has properties consistent with a role in X-chromosome inactivation. Rsx is a large, repeat-rich RNA that is expressed only in females and is transcribed from, and coats, the inactive X chromosome. In female germ cells, in whic..
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Grants
Awarded by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank D. Bell and R. Lovell-Badge for advice on the characterisation of Rsx, J. Cloutier and G. Polikiewicz for help with germ-cell preparations and quantitative PCR, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Genomics core (National Institutes of Health, NIH) for RNA sequencing, A. Toth for the HORMAD1 antibody, the Biological and Procedural Services units at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) for animal husbandry and Rsx transgenesis, and J. Cocquet, L. Reynard, H. Byers and members of the Turner and P. Burgoyne laboratories for reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) (U117588498, U117597141, U117581331, U117597137), the NIH (HD60858), the Robert J. Kleberg Jr and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation, the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, Possum Biocontrol (C10X0501), the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (1010453) and the NIDDK (NIH) Intramural Research Program.