Dosage Compensation Mechanisms: Evolution

Degeneration of sex-limited chromosomes favours the emergence of dosage compensation mechanisms able to equalize in both sexes the amount of products derived from sex-linked genes. These mechanisms are understood in detail in the fly Drosophila melanogaster, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and in eutherian mammals. The three systems, biochemically and evolutionarily unrelated, share a common logic.

Keywords: chromosome degeneration; sex chromosomes; chromatin; transcription regulation; evolution

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    Akhtar A and Gasser SM (2007) The nuclear envelope and transcriptional control. Nature Reviews Genetics 8: 507–517.
    Graves JA (2006) Sex chromosome specialization and degeneration in mammals. Cell 124: 901–914.
    Zaratiegui M, Irvine DV and Martienssen RA (2007) Noncoding RNAs and gene silencing. Cell 128: 763–776.
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Marín, Ignacio(Mar 2008) Dosage Compensation Mechanisms: Evolution. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0006128.pub2]