The SWI/SNF protein ATRX co-regulates pseudoautosomal genes that have translocated to autosomes in the mouse genome.
BACKGROUND
Pseudoautosomal regions (PAR1 and PAR2) in eutherians retain homologous regions between the X and Y chromosomes that play a critical role in the obligatory X-Y crossover during male meiosis. Genes that reside in the PAR1 are exceptional in that they are rich in repetitive sequences and undergo a very high rate of recombination. Remarkably, murine PAR1 homologs have translocated to various autosomes, reflecting the complex recombination history during the evolution of the mammalian X chromosome.


RESULTS
We now report that the SNF2-type chromatin remodeling protein ATRX controls the expression of eutherian ancestral PAR1 genes that have translocated to autosomes in the mouse. In addition, we have identified two potentially novel mouse PAR1 orthologs.


CONCLUSIONS
We propose that the ancestral PAR1 genes share a common epigenetic environment that allows ATRX to control their expression.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Western Ontario, London, N6A 4L6, Canada.mlevy2@uwo.ca
Michael A
MA
Levy
Andrew D
AD
Fernandes
Deanna C
DC
Tremblay
Claudia
C
Seah
Nathalie G
NG
Bérubé
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D004265:DNA Helicases / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017353:Gene Deletion; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000254:growth & development; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics; D034622:RNA Interference; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D000075924:X-linked Nuclear Protein
D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D012313:RNA; D004265:DNA Helicases; C490462:Atrx protein, mouse; D000075924:X-linked Nuclear Protein