Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
GoGreen Membership

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 16 June 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5780, pp. 1653 - 1655
DOI: 10.1126/science.1126316
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

The Xist RNA Gene Evolved in Eutherians by Pseudogenization of a Protein-Coding Gene

Laurent Duret,1* Corinne Chureau,2 Sylvie Samain,3 Jean Weissenbach,3 Philip Avner2

The Xist noncoding RNA is the key initiator of the process of X chromosome inactivation in eutherian mammals, but its precise function and origin remain unknown. Although Xist is well conserved among eutherians, until now, no homolog has been identified in other mammals. We show here that Xist evolved, at least partly, from a protein-coding gene and that the loss of protein-coding function of the proto-Xist coincides with the four flanking protein genes becoming pseudogenes. This event occurred after the divergence between eutherians and marsupials, which suggests that mechanisms of dosage compensation have evolved independently in both lineages.

1 Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive (UMR 5558), CNRS and Université Lyon 1, 16 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
2 Unité de Génétique Moléculaire Murine, URA CNRS 1947, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France.
3 Genoscope, Centre National de Séquençage and CNRS UMR8030, Case Postale 5706, 91057 Evry Cedex, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: duret{at}biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Sex chromosome silencing in the marsupial male germ line.
S. H. Namekawa, J. L. VandeBerg, J. R. McCarrey, and J. T. Lee (2007)
PNAS 104, 9730-9735
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
What is a gene, post-ENCODE? History and updated definition.
M. B. Gerstein, C. Bruce, J. S. Rozowsky, D. Zheng, J. Du, J. O. Korbel, O. Emanuelsson, Z. D. Zhang, S. Weissman, and M. Snyder (2007)
Genome Res. 17, 669-681
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Meiotic sex chromosome inactivation.
J. M. A. Turner (2007)
Development 134, 1823-1831
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A new paradigm for developmental biology.
J. S. Mattick (2007)
J. Exp. Biol. 210, 1526-1547
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Functionality or transcriptional noise? Evidence for selection within long noncoding RNAs.
J. Ponjavic, C. P. Ponting, and G. Lunter (2007)
Genome Res. 17, 556-565
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Eukaryotic regulatory RNAs: an answer to the 'genome complexity' conundrum.
K. V. Prasanth and D. L. Spector (2007)
Genes & Dev. 21, 11-42
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dosage compensation in mammals: fine-tuning the expression of the X chromosome.
E. Heard and C. M. Disteche (2006)
Genes & Dev. 20, 1848-1867
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)