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Science 16 June 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5780, pp. 1653 - 1655
DOI: 10.1126/science.1126316
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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

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