No severe and global X chromosome inactivation in meiotic male germline of Drosophila

BMC Biology

Correspondence

Lyudmila M Mikhaylova¹  Dmitry I Nurminsky¹ 

[1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA;

关键词: Accessory Gland;    Meiotic Cell;    Autosomal Gene;    Male Germline;    Original Research Article;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1741-7007-10-50

 received in 2012-05-28, accepted in 2012-06-12,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

This article is a response to Vibranovski et al.See correspondence article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/10/49 and the original research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/9/29We have previously reported a high propensity of testis-expressed X-linked genes to activation in meiotic cells, a similarity in global gene expression between the X chromosome and autosomes in meiotic germline, and under-representation of various types of tissue-specific genes on the X chromosome. Based on our findings and a critical review of the current literature, we believe that there is no global and severe silencing of the X chromosome in the meiotic male germline of Drosophila. The term 'meiotic sex chromosome inactivation' (MSCI) therefore seems misleading when used to describe the minor underexpression of the X chromosome in the testis of Drosophila, because this term erroneously implies a profound and widespread silencing of the X-linked genes, by analogy to the well-studied MSCI system in mammals, and therefore distracts from identification and analysis of the real mechanisms that orchestrate gene expression and evolution in this species.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Mikhaylova and Nurminsky; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012