Human genes escaping X-inactivation revealed by single cell expression data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In mammals, sex chromosomes pose an inherent imbalance of gene expression between sexes. In each female somatic cell, random inactivation of one of the X-chromosomes restores this balance. While most genes from the inactivated X-chromosome are silenced, 15-25% are known to escape X-inactivation (termed escapees). The expression levels of these genes are attributed to sex-dependent phenotypic variability.

Results

We used single-cell RNA-Seq to detect escapees in somatic cells. As only one X-chromosome is inactivated in each cell, the origin of expression from the active or inactive chromosome can be determined from the variation of sequenced RNAs. We analyzed primary, healthy fibroblasts (n = 104), and clonal lymphoblasts with sequenced parental genomes (n = 25) by

SUBMITTER: Wainer Katsir K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6419355 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature