Dynamic sex chromosome expression in Drosophila male germ cells

• Autor(a) principal: Mahadevaraju, Sharvani
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Fear, Justin M., Akeju, Miriam, Galletta, Brian J., Pinheiro, Mara M. L. S., Avelino, Camila C., Cabral-de-Mello, Diogo C. [UNESP], Conlon, Katie, Dell’Orso, Stafania, Demere, Zelalem, Mansuria, Kush, Mendonça, Carolina A., Palacios-Gimenez, Octavio M., Ross, Eli, Savery, Max, Yu, Kevin, Smith, Harold E., Sartorelli, Vittorio, Yang, Haiwang, Rusan, Nasser M., Vibranovski, Maria D., Matunis, Erika, Oliver, Brian
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-20897-y; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/207265

Given their copy number differences and unique modes of inheritance, the evolved gene content and expression of sex chromosomes is unusual. In many organisms the X and Y chromosomes are inactivated in spermatocytes, possibly as a defense mechanism against insertions into unpaired chromatin. In addition to current sex chromosomes, Drosophila has a small gene-poor X-chromosome relic (4th) that re-acquired autosomal status. Here we use single cell RNA-Seq on fly larvae to demonstrate that the single X and pair of 4th chromosomes are specifically inactivated in primary spermatocytes, based on measuring all genes or a set of broadly expressed genes in testis we identified. In contrast, genes on the single Y chromosome become maximally active in primary spermatocytes. Reduced X transcript levels are due to failed activation of RNA-Polymerase-II by phosphorylation of Serine 2 and 5.