title: Balancing up and downregulation of the C. elegans X chromosomes.
abstract: In Caenorhabditis elegans, males have one X chromosome and hermaphrodites have two. Emerging evidence indicates that the male X is transcriptionally more active than autosomes to balance the single X to two sets of autosomes. Because upregulation is not limited to males, hermaphrodites need to strike back and downregulate expression from the two X chromosomes to balance gene expression in their genome. Hermaphrodite-specific downregulation involves binding of the dosage compensation complex to both Xs. Advances in recent years revealed that the action of the dosage compensation complex results in compaction of the X chromosomes, changes in the distribution of histone modifications, and ultimately limiting RNA Polymerase II loading to achieve chromosome-wide gene repression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Alyssa C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, USA. Electronic address: gyorgyi@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Györgyi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Csankovszki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D018509:DNA, Helminth; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D015536:Down-Regulation; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014960:X Chromosome
chemical_list: D018509:DNA, Helminth