title: Drosophila dosage compensation: males are from Mars, females are from Venus.
abstract: Dosage compensation of X-linked genes is a phenomenon of concerted, chromosome-wide regulation of gene expression underpinned by sustained and tightly regulated histone modifications and chromatin remodeling, coupled with constrains of nuclear architecture. This elaborate process allows the accomplishment of regulated expression of genes on the single male X chromosome to levels comparable to those expressed from the two X chromosomes in females. The ribonucleoprotein Male Specific Lethal (MSL) complex is enriched on the male X chromosome and is intricately involved in this process in Drosophila melanogaster. In this review we discuss the recent advances that highlight the complexity lying behind regulation of gene expression by just two-fold.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Plamen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Georgiev
authors.forename: Sarantis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chlamydas
authors.forename: Asifa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akhtar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D059006:Chromosomes, Insect; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014960:X Chromosome
chemical_list: D006657:Histones