X chromosome Inactivation Flashcards
What happens to the X chromosome in Drosophila?
Males increase transcription from the X chromosome: 2 fold
What happens to the X chromosome in C elegans?
Females decrease transcription from the X chromosome: 2 fold
What happens to the X chromosome in Mammals?
Females completely inactive one of the X chromosome
This chromosome is referred to as a Barr body
What is special about the X chromosome?
Males and females need to balance the gene expression from the X chromosome
What is a Barr body?
A silenced, transcriptionally inactive X chromosome was first identified as a Barr body
Xa : active X chromosome
Xi: inactive X chromosome
What is special about Xi?
Xi is adjacent to the nuclear envelope
On Xi all CpG islands on Xi are methylated, histones are hypoacetylated, no transcription is observed
Which X chromosome is inactivated?
One X chromosome in each cell is randomly inactivated early during embryonal development
The silencing of the Xi is inherited through multiple rounds of divisions
One or the other
What are females?
Female mammals are X mosaic (different cells of the body one or the other X chromosome is silent)
What happens in a cell culture?
In cell cultures an Xi stays inactive; reverts at a frequency of about 10^-8
Reversal of the Barr body is incredibly rare
Explain Molecular events during early embryo development in female fetuses (Drawing to help explain)C
1) We have a zygote, with a partially pre-inactivated X chromosome, and a maternal X chromosome that is imprinted –> The Xm is active and the Xp is silenced in the embryo
2) Two cell stage: Repeat silencing of Xp
3) Four cell stage
4) Mourla: Genic silencing of Xp, and progressive Xp silencing
5) Blastocyst: Continuation of Xp inactivation in the placenta only (extra embryo tissues), Xm is active in placenta, Xp is silenced in placenta
There is reactivation of Xp in the embryonal tissues, Xp is reactivated in the developing embryo, both Xp and Xm are now active in the embryo, so random inactivation of Xp or Xm takes place in the embryo only
6) In the developing fetus, the embryo becomes X mosaic (Xp or Xm is active, only one is active not both)
7) The placenta is maternally imprinted (Only Xm is active)
8) In the developing germ line cells (future reproductive cells), there is pre-meiotic reactivation of both Xp or Xm takes place –> The “activation” imprint is placed on XIST of both X chromosomes
What happens in mature females?
They are mosaic, which means some cells have an active maternal X chromosome and some cells have an active paternal X chromosome
What happens at the start of development in females?
Paternal X chromsome is inactive at the start of the development and is activated later on alongside the maternal X chromosome
Why is X chromosome inactivation so important?
Very significant epigenetic component in the context of development
What is Rett syndrome?
Progressive neurodevelopment disorder
It is X linked, and affects methylated DNA binding protein
What are the symptoms of Rett syndrome?
One of the causes of mental retardation in females
Normal development seen for 6-18 months, then gradually lose speech, seizures, autism, hand writing behaviour, then stabilize and patients usually survive into adulthood
Affected males are extremely rare, which means males will die early in development
How is Rett syndrome caused?
Caused by a X linked mutation
The mutation is lethal in hemizygous XY males
In XX females, X chromsome inactivation and mosaicism leads to variability affected heterozygotes (Half of the X’s could be silenced)
70-80% of Rett cases are caused by mutations in an X linked gene encoding MeCP2 (Methyl- CpG- Binding Protein 2)
Epigenetic disease
Pathological mechanism is not clear, but linked to mosaicism
Explain the MECP2 model for Rett disease
Mecp2-/- mutant mice: Model for Rett syndrome
In these mice, the induced expression of MeCP2 in late stages of development reversed Rett syndrome
Explain the establishment of Xi
Silencing initiates from a specific position on the X chromosome and this position is called XIC (X chromosome inactivation centre)
What is the importance of XIC?
XIC is needed for X silencing/inactivation
What does X: Chr22 and X: Chr14 translocations lead to?
These lead to the inactivation of the whole hybrid chromosome is certain regions of theX chromosome is present
The other part of X is not silenced
What does XIC contain?
XIC contains three critical elements:
1) Xce (X controlling element): controls random inactivation of XIST
2) Xist (X inactivation specific transcript) gene
3) Tsix (antisense transcript to Xist) gene
XIC contains two opposing transcripts (transcribed in opposite directions): Xist and Tsix
Explain XIST and TSiX
They are lncRNAs
Tsix is the anti-sense transcript of XIST
Xist inactivates the X chromosomes from which it is expressed
Tsix is involved in the random inactivation of Xist
Xist inactivates the X chromosomes from which it is expressed
Tsix is involved in the random inactivation of Xist
What are the proposed roles of XIST?
Proposed roles of XIST:
1) Formation of silent nuclear compartment
2) Gene silencing via the repeat A
3) Mediator of chromosome interactions (TADs)
4) Recruitment of Chromatin Modifiers
What happens when Xist is expressed?
Precludes the expression of Tsix
Don’t know exact mechanism
What does XIC look like?
Draw locus
What controls Xist expression? (There is a picture to help explain this concept)
Tsix
In early embryonal development both Tsix and Xist are transcribed
Tsix is transcribed in the opposite direction of Xist
Possibly over runs the promoter of Xist (mopping of promoters in FLO11)
Deletion of Tsix promoter does not preclude the repression of X chromosomes, but it is not random
How does the cell randomly choose one X chromosome?
It is believed that Tsix plays a major role in this process
Tsix expression is stimulated by Oct4/Sox2/Nanog/C-myc, the genes that maintain stem cell phenotypes in embryonic stem cells
During differentiation the expression of Oct4/Sox2/Nanog/C-myc decreases, Tsix expression also goes down
It is possible that the two Tsix promoters compete in “all or none” fashion until one “loses” and allows for the unhindered expression of Xist
The possibility of a special TAD formation has also been proposed
What is a proposed mechanism for the Xist preclusion?
A TAD could be involved in the decision on which X chromosome to inactivate
There is an active loop and an inactive loop
In the human, Chic1, cdx, Tsix are in the inactive/supressed loop, and Xist, JPX, Fxt, Slc16A2 are in the active loop
Important to note: Tsix promoter is repressed, so inactive loop, and Xist promoter is active and expressed, so in active gene
What are the roles of Xist?
The role of the expressed Xist lncRNA is better characterized
Xist gene encodes a 19kb polyA + untranslated RNA transcript
Xist transcript is expressed at high levels from Xi but not from Xa
Large amounts of Xist wrap up the Xi and the histone hypoacetylation and DNA methylation of the entire chromosome follow
On Xa, XIST transcription is silenced by methylating Xic DNA
What is Xist necessary for? What is Xist not necessary for?
Xist is necessary for initiation of inactivation in cis
Xist is not needed for the maintenance of the inactive X chromosome
Once established, the heterochromatin on Xi is very stable
Explain Xist RNA during XX female ES cell differentiation
Researchers used RNA FISH
In undifferentiated ES cells: Xist is expressed from both X chromosomes, there is no accumulation of Xist, and there is no obvious heterochromatin and euchromatin in undifferentiated cells
Differentiation Initiated: One X chromosome shows a lot of Xist expressed, this is going to be inactivated the other X chromosome shows little Xist expressed, will remain active
Fully differentiated: The X chromosome that showed a lot of Xist expressed, is now inactivated and formed into a Barr body, Xist is still expressed in large amounts
Distinct euchromatin and heterochromatin domains in differentiated cells
Explain the cascade of events that follow the selection of one of the X chromosomes
1) Xist
2) Xist RNA covers the whole chromosome, and chromosome is wrapped by Xist transcript
3) Heterochromatin gets built up onto the chromosome on top of the Xist RNA
When Xist is expressed, the Xist transcript wraps around the X chromosome
This initiates a cascade of heterochromatin formation to repress this X chromosome
Xist associates with selected loci throughout the X chromosome
Xist wraps Xi during early stages of X-inactivation
4) Xist recruits PRC1, the initiatior of gene silencing (PRC1’s role is to recruit PRC2)
5) Recruitment of histone modifier, PRC2, then H3K27 methyl transferase follows
Overall, chromosome is wrapped with Xist and then recruit PRC1
How is Xist recruited and how does it bind? There is an image to help explain this
There are focal points along the chromosome that recruit Xist
Don’t know exact mechanism
Xist binds to DNA
Explain how the Xist loci associates with PRC2
Xist loci on the inactivated X chromosome overlaps with the clustering of PRC2 (H3-K27 Methyl transferase)
Initation of histone methylation followed by demethylation and formation of heterochromatin
What drives the inactivation of the Xp chromosome in the zygote?
The repressive imprint on Xm (maternal) XIC locus is imposed during oogenesis in females
The imprint is de-methylated at CpG islands at the promoter of Tsix so that Tsix is expressed from the Xm but not Xp
The imprint is not established on the Xp during spermatogenesis
In the zygote the Xist RNA is expressed by the Xp chromosome and not by the Xm chromosome and not by the Xm chromosome
Later on (in the epiblast) Xp is reactivated
What does the imprint tell the cell?
The imprint tells the cell that a X chromosome is maternal is a CpG island that is demethylated
When Tsix is expressed, then Xist is suppressed
What is an IAP? Where is it found?
LTR Transposon, which is found in human and mice genomes
What is a PGC?
Progenitor Germ line cells