X chromosome inactivation is an extraordinary example of long-range gene regulation, extending ~150 megabases and silencing genes on one X in females as a means of equalizing gene dosage between XX females and XY males. Nonetheless, not all genes on the X are silenced. Mechanistically, how inactivation spreads along the X and why some regions """"""""escape"""""""" X inactivation are not well understood but are important questions. Indeed, few examples of gene regulation are so intimately tied to chromosome organization, evolution and disease. Current data support a role for underlying genomic sequence and insulation by boundary elements. Human escape genes are not rare but largely cluster, suggesting that they are organized in coordinately controlled domains. We will use comparative genomics and molecular genetics tools to address the following hypotheses: (1) Underlying genomic sequences and boundary elements regulate X inactivation and are evolutionarily conserved. This will be tested by determining X inactivation patterns in ten mammals and developing a computational and statistical platform to identify candidate regulatory sequences, (2) Insulators are a conserved mechanism to regulate escape genes. This will be tested by characterizing epigenetic features of a human insulator that lies in an escape transition and determining whether insulator function correlates with escape domains in other mammals, (3) Genomic landscape functionally influences escape gene expression, and (4) Escape gene mechanisms are functionally conserved. To address these last two hypotheses, we will introduce mouse and human escape genes to different locations on the mouse X and and determine whether this affects their expression on the inactive X. The proposed experiments have direct relevance for medical genetics. The inheritance of an abnormal number of X chromosomes is quite common, accounting for 1 in 650 live births. One specific case, Turner syndrome, is the most common genetic birth defect in females. Many problems in these individuals are due to the specific subset of genes that will be studied in this application. We need to better understand these genes to explain clinical features and to improve genetic counseling recommendations. Further, these studies will also give insight into why genes are silenced when they are placed into new chromosomal environments, such as chromosome rearrangements that commonly occur in cancers and gene insertions for gene therapy.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD056452-05
Application #
8079661
Study Section
Molecular Genetics B Study Section (MGB)
Program Officer
Oster-Granite, Mary Lou
Project Start
2007-08-01
Project End
2013-05-31
Budget Start
2011-06-01
Budget End
2013-05-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$298,861
Indirect Cost
Name
Pennsylvania State University
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
129348186
City
Hershey
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
17033
Horvath, Lindsay M; Li, Nan; Carrel, Laura (2013) Deletion of an X-inactivation boundary disrupts adjacent gene silencing. PLoS Genet 9:e1003952
Wilson Sayres, Melissa A; Makova, Kateryna D (2013) Gene survival and death on the human Y chromosome. Mol Biol Evol 30:781-7
Cheung, Aaron Y L; Horvath, Lindsay M; Carrel, Laura et al. (2012) X-chromosome inactivation in rett syndrome human induced pluripotent stem cells. Front Psychiatry 3:24
Cheung, Aaron Y L; Horvath, Lindsay M; Grafodatskaya, Daria et al. (2011) Isolation of MECP2-null Rett Syndrome patient hiPS cells and isogenic controls through X-chromosome inactivation. Hum Mol Genet 20:2103-15
Lopes, Alexandra M; Arnold-Croop, Sarah E; Amorim, António et al. (2011) Clustered transcripts that escape X inactivation at mouse XqD. Mamm Genome 22:572-82
Lombard, Zane; Park, Chungoo; Makova, Kateryna D et al. (2011) A computational approach to candidate gene prioritization for X-linked mental retardation using annotation-based binary filtering and motif-based linear discriminatory analysis. Biol Direct 6:30
Berletch, Joel B; Yang, Fan; Xu, Jun et al. (2011) Genes that escape from X inactivation. Hum Genet 130:237-45
Park, Chungoo; Carrel, Laura; Makova, Kateryna D (2010) Strong purifying selection at genes escaping X chromosome inactivation. Mol Biol Evol 27:2446-50
Prothero, Katie E; Stahl, Jill M; Carrel, Laura (2009) Dosage compensation and gene expression on the mammalian X chromosome: one plus one does not always equal two. Chromosome Res 17:637-48
Heard, Edith; Carrel, Laura (2009) Foreword: Coping with sex chromosome imbalance. Chromosome Res 17:579-83

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