Many X-linked microRNAs escape meiotic sex chromosome inactivation.
Meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI) during spermatogenesis is characterized by transcriptional silencing of genes on both the X and Y chromosomes in mid-to-late pachytene spermatocytes. MSCI is believed to result from meiotic silencing of unpaired DNA because the X and Y chromosomes remain largely unpaired throughout first meiotic prophase. However, unlike X-chromosome inactivation in female embryonic cells, where 25-30% of X-linked structural genes have been reported to escape inactivation, previous microarray- and RT-PCR-based studies of expression of >364 X-linked mRNA-encoding genes during spermatogenesis have failed to reveal any X-linked gene that escapes the silencing effects of MSCI in primary spermatocytes. Here we show that many X-linked miRNAs are transcribed and processed in pachytene spermatocytes. This unprecedented escape from MSCI by these X-linked miRNAs suggests that they may participate in a critical function at this stage of spermatogenesis, including the possibility that they contribute to the process of MSCI itself, or that they may be essential for post-transcriptional regulation of autosomal mRNAs during the late meiotic and early postmeiotic stages of spermatogenesis.
Song
Rui
R
Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV, USA.
Ro
Seungil
S
Michaels
Jason D
JD
Park
Chanjae
C
McCarrey
John R
JR
Yan
Wei
W
D000818:Animals; D041321:Chromosomes, Human, X; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D005260:Female; D020868:Gene Silencing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis; D051379:Mice; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D013090:Spermatocytes / Q000502:physiology; D014960:X Chromosome; D049951:X Chromosome Inactivation / Q000235:genetics*; D014998:Y Chromosome
D035683:MicroRNAs