This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Research Data All Versions of this Article: gr.6520107v1 17/10/1431    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Homolka, D. Articles by Forejt, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Homolka, D. Articles by Forejt, J. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Letter

Chromosomal rearrangement interferes with meiotic X chromosome inactivation

Institute of Molecular Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 142 20 Prague 4, Czech Republic

Heterozygosity for certain mouse and human chromosomal rearrangements is characterized by the incomplete meiotic synapsis of rearranged chromosomes, by their colocalization with the XY body in primary spermatocytes, and by male-limited sterility. Previously, we argued that such X–autosomal associations could interfere with meiotic sex chromosome inactivation. Recently, supporting evidence has reported modifications of histones in rearranged chromosomes by a process called the meiotic silencing of unsynapsed chromatin (MSUC). Here, we report on the transcriptional down-regulation of genes within the unsynapsed region of the rearranged mouse chromosome 17, and on the subsequent disturbance of X chromosome inactivation. The partial transcriptional suppression of genes in the unsynapsed chromatin was most prominent prior to the mid-pachytene stage of primary spermatocytes. Later, during the mid-late pachytene, the rearranged autosomes colocalized with the XY body, and the X chromosome failed to undergo proper transcriptional silencing. Our findings provide direct evidence on the MSUC acting at the mRNA level, and implicate that autosomal asynapsis in meiosis may cause male sterility by interfering with meiotic sex chromosome inactivation.

E-mail jforejt{at}biomed.cas.cz; fax 420-24106-2154.

[Supplemental material is available online at www.genome.org. The microarray data have been submitted to NCBI/GEO under accession no. GSE7306.]

Article published online before print. Article and publication date are at http://www.genome.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gr.6520107

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. M. Good, M. D. Dean, and M. W. Nachman A Complex Genetic Basis to X-Linked Hybrid Male Sterility Between Two Species of House Mice Genetics, August 1, 2008; 179(4): 2213 - 2228. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. A. Ferguson, V. Chow, and S. Ma Silencing of unpaired meiotic chromosomes and altered recombination patterns in an azoospermic carrier of a t(8;13) reciprocal translocation Hum. Reprod., April 1, 2008; 23(4): 988 - 995. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]