Inactive X chromosome-specific histone H3 modifications and CpG hypomethylation flank a chromatin boundary between an X-inactivated and an escape gene.

ABSTRACT: In mammals, the dosage compensation of sex chromosomes between males and females is achieved by transcriptional inactivation of one of the two X chromosomes in females. However, a number of genes escape X-inactivation in humans. It remains poorly understood how the transcriptional activity of these 'escape genes' is maintained despite the chromosome-wide heterochromatin formation. To address this question, we analyzed a putative chromatin boundary between the inactivated RBM10 and an escape gene, UBA1/UBE1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed that trimethylated histone H3 lysine 9 and H4 lysine 20 were enriched in the last exon through the proximal downstream region of RBM10, but were remarkably diminished at approximately 2 kb upstream of the UBA1 transcription start site. Whereas RNA

SUBMITTER: Goto Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2794193 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature