Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:06:07.950Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

X-inactivation of the Sts locus in the mouse: an anomaly of the dosage compensation mechanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Janet Jones ,
Josephine Peters ,
Carol Rasberry  and
Bruce M. Cattanach
Janet Jones
Affiliation:
MRC Radiobiology Unit. Chilton, Didcot, Oxon 0X11 ORD
Josephine Peters
Affiliation:
MRC Radiobiology Unit. Chilton, Didcot, Oxon 0X11 ORD
Carol Rasberry
Affiliation:
MRC Radiobiology Unit. Chilton, Didcot, Oxon 0X11 ORD
Bruce M. Cattanach
Affiliation:
MRC Radiobiology Unit. Chilton, Didcot, Oxon 0X11 ORD
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The behaviour of the X- and Y-borne Sts locus has been studied in male and female mice. There was considerable heterogeneity in STS activity between inbred mouse strains, with a four fold difference in activity between the highest (101/H) and lowest (Ju/Ct) activity strains, which can be interpreted in terms of allelic differences. In all inbred strains male STS levels were higher than those of female STS levels and in the majority of strains tested male STS levels were nearly twice as high as female levels. Reciprocal crosses between C3H/HeH and the STS-deficient substrain, C3H/An, demonstrated that activities of the X- and Y-borne genes in males are essentially the same and this suggested that the lower STS level in females derives from X-inactivation of the locus. The possibility that hormonal differences could instead be responsible for the lower activity in females was ruled out by the findings that (a) castration of males did not reduce their STS levels and (b) sex-reversed males, X / X Sxr, had STS levels typical of females. Final proof that the mouse Sts locus can be subject to the X-inactivation process was provided by the observation that XX females had STS levels that were only slightly (20%) higher than those of XO females. The difference may indicate incomplete inactivation of the locus. Linkage data verifying the location of Sts on the distal end of the X chromosome are provided.

In total, the results of this study show that the murine Sts locus can be subject to the X-inactivation process and this, together with the existence of functional loci of near-equal activities on the X and Y chromosomes, results in an imbalance of STS levels between the sexes. X-inactivation does not therefore serve as a dosage compensation mechanism for the Sts locus in the mouse. All of these findings were made in C3H/HeH mice or in animals carrying C3H/HeH functional Sts alleles, and it is pointed out that the diverse results previously obtained by other investigators may be attributable to their use of different strains and crosses between strains but could also be complicated by technical factors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , June 1989 , pp. 193 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

References

Burgoyne, P. S. (1982). Genetic homology and crossing over in the X and Y chromosomes of mammals. Human Genetics 61, 5–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cattanach, B. M. (1985). Close linkage between Li and Hyp. Mouse News Letter 73, 17.Google Scholar
Cattanach, B. M. & Crocker, M. (1984). A further new X- linked gene. Mouse News Letter 70, 80.Google Scholar
Cattanach, B. M. & Crocker, M. (1986). X chromosomal location of Sts. Mouse News Letter 74, 94–95.Google Scholar
Cattanach, B. M., Evans, E. P., Burtenshaw, M. D. & Barlow, J. (1982). Male, female and intersex development in mice of identical chromosome constitution. Nature 300, 445–446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooke, H. J., Braun, W. R. A. & Rappold, G. A. (1985). Hypervariable telomeric sequences from the human sex chromosomes are pseudoautosomal. Nature 317, 687–692.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Craig, I. W. & Tolley, E. (1986). Steroid sulphatase and the conservation of mammalian X chromosomes. Trends in Genetics 2, 201–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crocker, M. & Craig, I. (1983). Variation in the regulation of steroid sulphatase locus in mammals. Nature 303, 721–722.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erickson, R. P., Harper, K. & Kramer, J. M. (1983). Identification of an autosomal locus affecting steroid sulphatase activity among inbred strains of mice. Genetics 105, 181–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, E. P., Burtenshaw, M. D. & Cattanach, B. M. (1982). Meiotic crossing over between the X and Y chromosomes of male mice carrying the sex reversing (Sxr) factor. Nature 300, 443–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser, N., Ballabio, A., Zollo, N., Persico, G. & Craig, I. (1987). Identification of incomplete coding sequences for steroid sulphatase on the human Y chromosome; evidence for an ancestral pseudoautosomal gene? Development 101, Supplement, 127–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gartler, S. M. & Rivest, M. (1983). Evidence for X- linkage of steroid sulphatase in the mouse: Steroid sulphatase levels in oocytes of XX and XO mice. Genetics 103, 137–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geller, R. L., Shapiro, L. J. & Mohandas, T. K. (1986). Fine mapping of the distal short arm of the human X chromosome using X / Y translocations. American Journal of Human Genetics 38, 884–890.Google ScholarPubMed
Jones, J., Cattanach, B. M. & Rasberry, C. (1988). The expression of steroid sulphatase in male and female mice. Genetical Research 52, 59.Google Scholar
Keinanen, B. M., Nelson, K., Daniel, W. L. & Roque, J. M. (1983). Analysis of murine arylsulphatase C and steroid sulphatase. Genetics 105, 191–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keitges, E. & Gartler, S. M. (1986). Dosage of the Sts gene in the mouse. American Journal of Human Genetics 39, 470–476.Google ScholarPubMed
Keitges, E., Rivest, M., Siniscalo, M. & Gartler, S. M. (1985). X-linkage of steroid sulphatase in the mouse is evidence for a functional Y-linked allele. Nature 315, 226–227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keitges, E., Schorderet, D. F. & Gartler, M. (1987). Linkage of the steroid sulphatase gene to the sex reversal mutation in the mouse. Genetics 116, 465–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lam, S. T. S., Polani, P. E. & Fensom, A. H. (1983). Steroid sulphatase in the mouse. Genetical Research 41, 299–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyon, M. F. (1961). Gene action in the X-chromosome of the mouse (Mus musculus L.). Nature 190, 372–373.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLaren, A. & Monk, M. (1982). Fertile females produced by inactivation of an X-chromosome of ‘sex reversed’ mice. Nature 306, 446–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Migeon, B. R., Shapiro, L. J., Ivorum, R. A., Mohanadas, T., Axelman, J. & Dabova, R. L. (1982). Differential expression of the steroid sulphatase locus on the active and inactive human X chromosome. Nature 299, 838–839.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mohandas, T., Sparkes, R. S., Mellkuhl, B., Gizeschik, K. H. & Shapiro, L. J. (1980). Expression of an X-linked gene from an inactive human X-chromosome in the mouse–human hybrid cells: further evidence for the non-inactivation of the steroid sulphatase locus in man. Proceedings National Academy Sciences of the U.S.A. 77, 6759–6763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagamine, C. M., Michot, J.-L., Roberts, C., Guenet, J.-L. & Bishop, C. E. (1987). Linkage of the murine steroid sulphatase locus, Sts, to sex reversed, Sxr: genetic and molecular analysis. Nucleic Acid Research 15, 9227–9238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rouyer, F., Simmler, M.-C., Johnsson, C., Vergnaud, G., Cooke, H. J. & Weissenbach, J. (1986). A gradient of sex linkage in the pseudoautosomal region of the human sex chromosomes. Nature 319, 291–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shapiro, L. J. (1985). Steroid sulphatase deficiency and the genetics of the short arm of the human X chromosome. Advances in human Genetics 14, 331–382.Google Scholar
Shapiro, L. J., Mohandas, T. & Weiss, R. (1979). Non-inactivation of an X chromosome locus in man. Science 204, 1224–1226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmler, M.-C., Rouyer, F., Vergnaud, G., Nystrom-Lahti, M., Ngo, K. Y., de La Chappelle, A. & Weissenbach, J. (1985). Pseudoautosomal DNA sequences in the pairing region of the human sex chromosomes. Nature 317, 692–697.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiberg, U. H. & Fredga, K. (1987). Steroid sulphatase levels are higher in males than in females of the root vole (Microtus oeconomus): yet another rodent with an active X-linked allele? Human Genetics 77, 6–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar