title: Mechanistic insights into chromosome-wide silencing in X inactivation.
abstract: In mammals, one of the two X chromosomes in female cells is transcriptionally silenced for dosage compensation between the sexes. Chromosome-wide silencing is initiated by the non-coding Xist RNA that accumulates within the inactive X chromosome territory and triggers gene repression and chromatin modifications. Epigenetic changes of the inactive X chromosome in a developmentally regulated manner result in stable gene repression in female somatic cells. X inactivation is a model for understanding the formation of facultative heterochromatin in mammalian development and represents a paradigm for RNA mediated regulation of gene expression. In this review, we summarize the present knowledge of the mechanism of chromosome-wide silencing and give an outlook on future directions.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QR, UK.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arthold
authors.forename: Agata
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurowski
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wutz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020029:Base Pairing; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014960:X Chromosome / Q000502:physiology*; D049951:X Chromosome Inactivation / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D006570:Heterochromatin; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D022661:RNA, Untranslated; C077885:XIST non-coding RNA