Sex-differential selection and the evolution of X inactivation strategies.

ABSTRACT: X inactivation--the transcriptional silencing of one X chromosome copy per female somatic cell--is universal among therian mammals, yet the choice of which X to silence exhibits considerable variation among species. X inactivation strategies can range from strict paternally inherited X inactivation (PXI), which renders females haploid for all maternally inherited alleles, to unbiased random X inactivation (RXI), which equalizes expression of maternally and paternally inherited alleles in each female tissue. However, the underlying evolutionary processes that might account for this observed diversity of X inactivation strategies remain unclear. We present a theoretical population genetic analysis of X inactivation evolution and specifically consider how conditions of dominance, linkage, rec

SUBMITTER: Connallon T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3630082 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature