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  • Title: X-chromosome inactivation: counting, choice and initiation.
    Author: Avner P, Heard E.
    Journal: Nat Rev Genet; 2001 Jan; 2(1):59-67. PubMed ID: 11253071.
    Abstract:
    In many sexually dimorphic species, a mechanism is required to ensure equivalent levels of gene expression from the sex chromosomes. In mammals, such dosage compensation is achieved by X-chromosome inactivation, a process that presents a unique medley of biological puzzles: how to silence one but not the other X chromosome in the same nucleus; how to count the number of X's and keep only one active; how to choose which X chromosome is inactivated; and how to establish this silent state rapidly and efficiently during early development. The key to most of these puzzles lies in a unique locus, the X-inactivation centre and a remarkable RNA--Xist--that it encodes.
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