Reactivation of the paternal X chromosome in early mouse embryos
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| Authors: | Mak, W; Nesterova, TB; de Napoles, M; Appanah, R; Yamanaka, S; Otte, AP; Brockdorff, N |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Journal: | Science 303: 666-669 Article Link (DOI) PubMed |
| Title: | Reactivation of the paternal X chromosome in early mouse embryos |
| Abstract: | It is generally accepted that paternally imprinted X inactivation occurs exclusively in extraembryonic lineages of mouse embryos, whereas cells of the embryo proper, derived from the inner cell mass (ICM), undergo only random X inactivation. Here we show that imprinted X inactivation, in fact, occurs in all cells of early embryos and that the paternal X is then selectively reactivated in cells allocated to the ICM. This contrasts with more differentiated cell types where X inactivation is highly stable and generally irreversible. Our observations illustrate that an important component of genome plasticity in early development is the capacity to reverse heritable gene silencing decisions. |
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