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Science 6 December 1996:
Vol. 274. no. 5293, pp. 1736 - 1739
DOI: 10.1126/science.274.5293.1736
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Reports

Sex-Specific Assembly of a Dosage Compensation Complex on the Nematode X Chromosome

Pao-Tien Chuang, * Jason D. Lieb, Barbara J. Meyer dagger

In nematodes, flies, and mammals, dosage compensation equalizes X-chromosome gene expression between the sexes through chromosome-wide regulatory mechanisms that function in one sex to adjust the levels of X-linked transcripts. Here, a dosage compensation complex was identified in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that reduces transcript levels from the two X chromosomes in hermaphrodites. This complex contains at least four proteins, including products of the dosage compensation genes dpy-26 and dpy-27. Specific localization of the complex to the hermaphrodite X chromosomes is conferred by XX-specific regulatory genes that coordinately control both sex determination and dosage compensation.

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
*   Present address: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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