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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Parental origin of the X chromosome, X chromosome mosaicism and screening for "hidden" Y chromosome in 45,X Turner syndrome ascertained cytogenetically.

Our study confirms the finding that about 85% of X chromosomes in Turner girls are maternally derived. A new observation is the detection of a high frequency of mosaicism (15%) in Turner girls who by cytogenetic analysis were thought to have a pure 45,X karyotype. DNA examination of the material was done by hybridization with digoxigenin labelled, non-radioactive probes, and PCR products for microsatellite analysis were run on polyacrylamide gels. We screened for the presence of "hidden" Y chromosome mosaicism, using the primers SRY, ZFY, DYZ3, DYZ1 and DYS132. Contrary to other reports using the PCR technique to unravel "hidden" Y chromosome mosaics, we did not find any positive cases. A precise technical protocol for these new techniques is given, and the advantages are discussed.

Chromosome Banding↗

Topography of genetic elements of X-chromosome relative to the cell nucleus and to the chromosome X territory determined for human lymphocytes.

Topography of three genetic elements--dystrophin (dmd) exons 5-7 (E(1)), 46-47 (E(2)), and centromere of chromosome X (N(X)) were studied relative to cell nuclei and to chromosome X territories of spatially fixed human lymphocytes. Repeated three-dimensional (3D) dual color fluorescence in situ hybridization combined with high-resolution cytometry was used. In addition, the nuclear location of fluorescence weight centers (FWC), spatial volume, and maximal area per one section of chromosome-X territories were investigated. The larger (X(L)) and smaller (X(S)) homologous X-chromosomes were distinguished for each nucleus according to the 3D volume of their territories. The distributions of the [center of nucleus]-to-[genetic element] distances (radial distributions) of dmd exons E(1), E(2), centromere N(X) and FWC were very similar for both homologous X-chromosomes of female lymphocytes as well as for the chromosome X of the human male. On the other hand, larger average mutual distances between all pairs of signals (E(1), E(2), N(X), FWC) and larger average maximal area were observed for the larger chromosome (X(L)) in comparison with the smaller one (X(S)). The territory of the larger homologue showed also more irregular surface. The most significant differences between homologous X-chromosomes were found for N(X)-E(1), N(X)-E(2) and E(1)-E(2) distances that were in average about twice longer for X(L) as compared with X(S). These parameters correlate to each other and can be used for the reliable determination of more (de)condensed X-chromosome territory. The longer E(1)-E(2) distances for X(L) indicate more open chromatin structure of the dystrophin gene on this chromosome in contrary to closed structure on X(S). Substantially shorter distances of the dystrophin exons from the centromeric heterochromatin in X(S) as compared to X(L) can be explained by silencing effect of centromeres as described in Nature 1 (2000) 137.

Cell Nucleus↗

A variable domain of delayed replication in FRAXA fragile X chromosomes: X inactivation-like spread of late replication.

The timing of DNA replication in the Xq27 portion of the human X chromosome was studied in cells derived from normal and fragile X males to further characterize the replication delay on fragile X chromosomes. By examining a number of sequence-tagged sites (STSs) that span several megabases of Xq27, we found this portion of the normal active X chromosome to be composed of two large zones with different replication times in fibroblasts, lymphocytes, and lymphoblastoid cells. The centromere-proximal zone replicates very late in S, whereas the distal zone normally replicates somewhat earlier and contains FMR1, the gene responsible for fragile X syndrome when mutated. Our analysis of the region of delayed replication in fragile X cells indicates that it extends at least 400 kb 5' of FMR1 and appears to merge with the normal zone of very late replication in proximal Xq27. The distal border of delayed replication varies among different fragile X males, thereby defining three replicon-sized domains that can be affected in fragile X syndrome. The distal boundary of the largest region of delayed replication is located between 350 and 600 kb 3' of FMR1. This example of variable spreading of late replication into multiple replicons in fragile X provides a model for the spread of inactivation associated with position-effect variegation or X chromosome inactivation.

Cell Cycle↗

Genetic localisation of mental retardation with spastic diplegia to the pericentromeric region of the X chromosome: X inactivation in female carriers.

We report on two brothers and one maternal cousin with severe mental retardation, microcephaly, short stature, cryptorchidism, and spastic diplegia. The patients were born to normal and non-consanguineous parents. All other members of the family, almost exclusively females, were clinically normal, suggesting X linked inheritance. By multipoint linkage analysis with markers spanning the whole X chromosome, we have tentatively assigned the underlying genetic defect to Xp11.4-q21, achieving a maximum lod score of 1.3. This localisation overlaps MRXS3, a syndromic form of mental retardation resembling that found in the family described here, although with a milder presentation. We discuss the possibility that both phenotypes might be allelic variants of the same gene localised in the pericentromeric region of the X chromosome. Analysis of the X inactivation pattern in one potential and three obligate carrier females showed non-random inactivation of the allele linked to the disease. This finding may be interpreted as: (1) a negative selection effect on cells bearing the mutation on the active X chromosome; (2) both the disease causing gene and the X inactivation centre are simultaneously affected by the same alteration, a deletion for instance; or (3) the skewed inactivation is the consequence of an independent event randomly associated with the disease. In any case, the observation of consistent X inactivation supports X linkage of the disease.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

Quantification of the DNA content of structurally abnormal X chromosomes and X chromosome aneuploidy using high resolution bivariate flow karyotyping.

Quantification of the Hoechst and chromomycin A3 fluorescence intensities of mitotic human chromosomes isolated from karyotypically normal and abnormal cells was performed with a dual beam flow cytometer. The resultant flow karyotypes contain information about the relative DNA content and base composition of chromosomes and their relative frequencies in the mitotic cell sample. The relative copy number of X and Y chromosomes was determined for 38 normal males and females and 6 cell lines with X or Y chromosome aneuploidy. Flow karyotype diagnoses corresponded with conventional cytogenetic results in all cases. We show that chromosome DNA content can be derived from peak position in Hoechst vs. chromomycin flow karyotypes. These values are linearly related to propidium iodide staining intensity as measured with flow cytometry and to the binding of gallocyanin chrome alum to phosphate groups as measured with slide-based scanning photometry. Cell lines with deleted or dicentric X chromosomes ranging in length from 0.53 to 1.95 times normal were analyzed by using flow cytometry. The measured difference in DNA content between a normal X and each of the structurally abnormal chromosomes was linearly correlated to the difference predicted from cytogenetics and/or probe analyses. Deletions of 3-5 Mb, which were at and below the detection limits of conventional cytogenetics, could be quantified by flow karyotyping in individuals with X-linked diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, choroideremia, and ocular albinism/ichthyosis. The results show that the use of flow karyotyping to quantify the size of restricted regions of the genome can complement conventional cytogenetics and other physical mapping techniques in the study of genetic disorders.

Aneuploidy↗

Replication timing properties of the human HPRT locus on active, inactive and reactivated X chromosomes.

X chromosome inactivation is associated with a highly asynchronous pattern of DNA replication at most X-linked loci in females. We studied the human HPRT locus, which is subject to X inactivation and expressed from only the active homolog, with the goal of comparing replication properties between the active and inactive homologs in this region using a fluorescence in situ hybridization approach. We found that in normal female lymphoblasts this locus is replicated in a highly asynchronous manner across a broad, discrete 500-600 kb zone with earliest replication appearing at the gene coding sequence. This general timing profile is maintained in normal male lymphoblasts, as well as in hamster x human hybrid cells containing the active human X chromosome. However, the inactive human X chromosome in the hamster cell background does not appear to function in a fully equivalent manner to the normal inactive X chromosome in female cells. Furthermore, reactivation of the inactive human X chromosome in a hamster x human hybrid system by 5-azacytidine treatment and HAT selection restores early replication at the HPRT gene itself, but does not change the overall domain behavior.

Animals↗

SDC-3 coordinates the assembly of a dosage compensation complex on the nematode X chromosome.

X chromosome expression in C. elegans is controlled by a chromosome-wide regulatory process called dosage compensation that specifically reduces by half the level of transcripts made from each hermaphrodite X chromosome. This process equalizes X expression between the sexes (XX hermaphrodites and XO males), despite their two-fold difference in X chromosome dose, and thereby prevents sex-specific lethality. Dosage compensation is achieved by a protein complex that associates with X in a sex-specific fashion to modulate gene expression. SDC-3, a protein that coordinately controls both sex determination and dosage compensation, activates dosage compensation by directing the dosage compensation protein complex to the hermaphrodite X chromosomes. We show that SDC-3 coordinates this assembly through its own sex-specific association with X. SDC-3 in turn requires other members of the dosage compensation gene hierarchy for its stability and its X localization. In addition, SDC-3 requires its own zinc finger motifs and an amino-terminal region for its X association. Our experiments suggest the possible involvement of zinc finger motifs in X chromosome recognition and the amino-terminal region in interactions with other dosage compensation proteins.

Animals↗

X-tra! X-tra! News from the mouse X chromosome.

X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is the phenomenon through which one of the two X chromosomes in female mammals is silenced to achieve dosage compensation with males. XCI is a highly complex, tightly controlled and developmentally regulated process. The mouse undergoes two forms of XCI: imprinted, which occurs in all cells of the preimplantation embryo and in the extraembryonic lineage, and random, which occurs in somatic cells after implantation. This review presents results and hypotheses that have recently been proposed concerning important aspects of both imprinted and random XCI in mice. We focus on how imprinted XCI occurs during preimplantation development, including a brief discussion of the debate as to when silencing initiates. We also discuss regulation of random XCI, focusing on the requirement for Tsix antisense transcription through the Xist locus, on the regulation of Xist chromatin structure by Tsix and on the effect of Tsix regulatory elements on choice and counting. Finally, we review exciting new data revealing that X chromosomes co-localize during random XCI. To conclude, we highlight other aspects of X-linked gene regulation that make it a suitable model for epigenetics at work.

Animals↗

Sex chromosome elimination, X chromosome inactivation and reactivation in the southern brown bandicoot Isoodon obesulus (Marsupialia: Peramelidae).

Cytogenetic studies have shown that bandicoots (family Peramelidae) eliminate one X chromosome in females and the Y chromosome in males from some somatic tissues at different stages during development. The discovery of a polymorphism for X-linked phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK-1) in a population of Isoodon obesulus from Mount Gambier, South Australia, has allowed us to answer a number of long standing questions relating to the parental source of the eliminated X chromosome, X chromosome inactivation and reactivation in somatic and germ cells of female bandicoots. We have found no evidence of paternal PGK-1 allele expression in a wide range of somatic tissues and cell types from known female heterozygotes. We conclude that paternal X chromosome inactivation occurs in bandicoots as in other marsupial groups and that it is the paternally derived X chromosome that is eliminated from some cell types of females. The absence of PGK-1 paternal activity in somatic cells allowed us to examine the state of X chromosome activity in germ cells. Electrophoresis of germ cells from different aged pouch young heterozygotes showed only maternal allele expression in oogonia whereas an additional paternally derived band was observed in pre-dictyate oocytes. We conclude that reactivation of the inactive X chromosome occurs around the onset of meiosis in female bandicoots. As in other mammals, late replication is a common feature of the Y chromosome in male and the inactive X chromosome in female bandicoots. The basis of sex chromosome loss is still not known; however later timing of DNA synthesis is involved. Our finding that the paternally derived X chromosome is eliminated in females suggests that late DNA replication may provide the imprint for paternal X inactivation and the elimination of sex chromosomes in bandicoots.

Animals↗

Delving into the diversity of facultative heterochromatin: the epigenetics of the inactive X chromosome.

X chromosome inactivation represents one of the most dramatic examples of mono-allelic gene expression and long-term gene-silencing in mammals. The key regulatory molecule that triggers silencing is the Xist transcript, but little is known about its repressive action. Some progress has been made in deciphering the epigenetics of the inactive state that it triggers, however. During pre-implantation development, the inactive state is relatively labile. Later on, in the soma, the inactive state is highly stable and clonally heritable. This is ensured by the panoply of epigenetic modifications that characterize the inactive X and, presumably, is also a result of its spatio-temporal segregation. The inactive X chromosome has been associated with an increasing number of histone modifications, and several recent studies have implicated Polycomb group proteins in laying down some of these marks. Thanks to genetic and biochemical approaches to analyse these proteins, the epigenetic tapestry of the inactive X is just beginning to be unravelled. Lineage-specific differences provide a glimpse into the developmental complexity of the epigenetic marks that ensure the inactive state.

Animals↗

Inherited tandem duplication of the X chromosome: dup(X)(q13.2-q21.2) in a family.

A 2-year-old boy who was failing to thrive and who had multiple anomalies was found to have a maternally derived tandem duplication of the long arm of the X chromosome: dup(X)(q13.2-q21.2). The karyotyping interpretation was further confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization studies in which a double gene dosage of the X-inactivation-specific transcript (gene locus on Xq13.2) and a whole chromosome X painting on the abnormal X were noted. He suffered from hypotonia, gastroesophageal reflux, laryngomalacia, recurrent infections, immunodeficiency (IgG4 deficiency), dysgenesis of the corpus callosum, proximal renal tubular acidosis, and nephrolithiasis. His mother and elder sister also had the same rearrangement, the dup(X), on one of their X chromosomes. However, the mother was in good health, but the sister suffered from nephrolithiasis. The clinical variability in this family with the Xq duplication is reported and discussed.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

A Turner syndrome woman with a ring X chromosome [45,X/46,X,r(X)(p22.3q27)] whose child also had a ring X chromosome.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a woman with Turner syndrome with ring X chromosome mosaicism who had a child who possessed the same ring X chromosome. DESIGN: Polymorphisms of genes located on the X chromosome from genomic DNA of the mother, father, and the child were evaluated. PATIENT(S): The mother's karyotype was 45,X [48]/46,X,r(X)(p22.3q27) [2], and the child's karyotype was 45,X[33]/46,X,r(X)(p22.3q27) [17]. INTERVENTION(S): Polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify short tandem repeats from the loci of the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase gene and the androgen receptor gene. RESULT(S): Alleles for both genes in the child originated from both parents in a heterozygous fashion. The alleles originating from the mother originated from the ring X chromosome. However, the amount of amplified DNA was less than that of a normal X chromosome. CONCLUSION(S): The ring X chromosome of the mother was most likely transmitted to the newborn. Thus, an ovum with the ring X chromosome can be fertile and can produce a viable zygote.

Adult↗

Ring X and other structural X chromosome abnormalities: X inactivation and phenotype.

Patients who carry a structural abnormality of the X chromosome are a fascinating group who have provided opportunities to evaluate genotype/phenotype correlation in relation to X chromosome content and inactivation. Turner syndrome (TS) is most commonly associated with a 45,X karyotype and presents with an array of phenotypes, the main ones being poor viability in utero, ovarian failure and infertility, short stature, lymphedema, and other congenital malformations but usually not mental retardation. In some TS patients the karyotype shows both a normal X and a structurally rearranged X chromosome. These structural abnormalities, which include deletions, duplications, inversions, translocations, and rings, are associated with chromosome breaks and significant imbalance of gene content of the X chromosome. However, such abnormalities are generally well tolerated because of the preferential inactivation of the abnormal X, which can restore, at least in part, a balanced genetic makeup. This beneficial effect of X inactivation results in a mild phenotype in most patients with structural abnormalities of the X, similar to that found in TS patients with a 45,X karyotype. However, in cases of ring X chromosomes and of X/autosome translocations the incidence of mental retardation and other congenital abnormalities can be significantly higher than in TS. These abnormal phenotypes can be ascribed to failed or partial X inactivation and/or incomplete selection in favor of cells with normal balance of gene expression. In this article, we present phenotype/genotype correlation in female patients with structural abnormalities of the X and address the role of X inactivation and cell selection in the phenotypic findings. Our review emphasizes a subset of rare patients with ring X chromosomes who have provided evidence of a direct role for X inactivation in determining phenotypes.

Chromosome Deletion↗

De novo isodicentric X chromosome: 46,X,idic(X)(q24), and summary of literature.

We describe a 12-year-old patient, the second live born prenatally ascertained patient in the literature, with a de novo isodicentric X chromosome, karyotype 46,X,idic(X)(q24), with normal growth and development and lack of dysmorphic features. Molecular and cytogenetic studies were performed to further characterize the isodicentric chromosome X behavior. Literature on isodicentric X chromosomes with various breakpoints on Xq is reviewed and summarized.

Child↗

Methylation of histone H3 at Lys-9 is an early mark on the X chromosome during X inactivation.

Coating of the X chromosome by Xist RNA is an essential trigger for X inactivation. However, little is known about the early chromatin remodeling events that transform this signal into transcriptional silencing. Here we report that methylation of histone H3 lysine 9 on the inactive X chromosome occurs immediately after Xist RNA coating and before transcriptional inactivation of X-linked genes. X-chromosomal H3 Lys-9 methylation occurs during the same window of time as H3 Lys-9 hypoacetylation and H3 Lys-4 hypomethylation. Histone H3 modifications thus represent the earliest known chromatin changes during X inactivation. We also identify a unique "hotspot" of H3 Lys-9 methylation 5' to Xist, and we propose that this acts as a nucleation center for Xist RNA-dependent spread of inactivation along the X chromosome via H3 Lys-9 methylation.

A Kinase Anchor Proteins↗

Flow sorting of the mouse Cattanach X chromosome, T (X; 7) 1 Ct, in an active or inactive state.

Cells containing the mouse T(X;7)1Ct translocation were used to separate active and inactive X chromosomes. Cytophotometric data showed that the X(7) chromosome was at least 15% larger than any normal mouse chromosome. Cloned cell lines were established from male and female embryos with a normal karyotype and carrying the X(7) chromosome in an active or inactive state as shown by replication kinetics. As expected from the cytophotometric data, flow histograms of normal mouse chromosomes stained with 33258 Hoechst had five peaks. A sixth peak was present when the chromosomes came from mice carrying T1Ct. In this peak 6, 30 to 50% of the chromosomes were X(7) and there was almost no contamination by the normal X chromosome.

Animals↗