[
Curr Opin Genet Dev,
2016]
In many species, male and female animals differ in the number of X chromosomes they possess. As a consequence, large scale differences in gene dosage exist between sexes; a phenomenon that is rarely tolerated by the organism for changes in autosome dosage. Several strategies have evolved independently to balance X-linked gene dosage between sexes, named dosage compensation (DC). The molecular basis of DC differs among the three best-studied examples: mammals, fruit fly and nematodes. In this short review, we summarize recent microscopic and chromosome conformation capture data that reveal key features of the compensated X chromosome and highlight the events leading to the establishment of a functional, specialized nuclear compartment, the X domain.
[
European Worm Meeting,
2006]
Jaroslav Vohanka1, Zdenek Kostrouch2 and Marta Kostrouchova1. Chromosome V contains a group of seven sequences recognized by the computer program GeneFinder as potential nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs). In order to identify whether genes from this cluster may be functional NHRs, we studied their expression during C. elegans development. RT-PCR identifies transcripts of all seven genes. The expression of all members of this cluster starts in embryos. Six of these genes are expressed throughout development while one member of this cluster is only expressed in embryos and early larval stages. We prepared constructs of GFP fusion genes containing various regions of genomic sequences. At least 2 different fragments containing putative promoters were prepared for each gene of the cluster; one consisting of approximately 500 bp and a second of approximately 2000 bp. The longer constructs contain parts of the coding sequences of the preceding genes. Our results show that members of this gene cluster have a diverse expression pattern and are likely to be functional NHRs. Acknowledgement: We thank Drs. A. Fire for GFP constructs, vectors and host used in RNAi, M.W. Krause for support and advice. The work was supported by grants 303/03/1115 and 301/ 05/0859 from the Czech Science Foundation and by the grant 0021620806 from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.