Re-evaluation of the function of the male specific lethal complex in Drosophila

James Birchler; Lin Sun; Harvey Fernandez; Ryan Donohue; Weiwu Xie; Abhijit Sanyal

doi:10.1016/j.jgg.2011.07.001

Volume 38 Issue 8

Aug. 2011

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Article Navigation > Journal of Genetics and Genomics > 2011 > 38(8): 327-332

PDF( 171 KB)

Re-evaluation of the function of the male specific lethal complex in Drosophila

doi: 10.1016/j.jgg.2011.07.001

Division of Biological Sciences, 311 Tucker Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail address: BirchlerJ@Missouri.edu (James Birchler)
Received Date: 2011-07-07
Accepted Date: 2011-07-08

Available Online: 2011-07-18

Publish Date: 2011-08-20

Abstract

Abstract

A set of proteins and noncoding RNAs, referred to as the male specific lethal (MSL) complex, is present on the male X chromosome in Drosophila and has been postulated to be responsible for dosage compensation of this chromosome – the up-regulation of its expression to be equal to that of two X chromosomes in females. This hypothesis is evaluated in view of lesser known aspects of dosage compensation such as the fact that metafemales with three X chromosomes also have equal expression to normal females, which would require a down-regulation of each gene copy. Moreover, when this complex is ectopically expressed in females or specifically targeted to a reporter in males, there is no increase in expression of the genes or targets with which it is associated. These observations are not consistent with the hypothesis that the MSL complex conditions dosage compensation. A synthesis is described that can account for these observations.
- Dosage compensation,
- MSL,
- Aneuploidy,
- Gene balance hypothesis,
- X chromosome

FullText(HTML)

References(46)

References

[1]	Akhtar, A., Becker, P.B. Mol. Cell, 5 (2000),pp. 367-375
[2]	Belote, J.M., Lucchesi, J.C. Nature, 285 (1980),pp. 573-575
[3]	Bhadra, U., Pal-Bhadra, M., Birchler, J.A. Genetics, 152 (1999),pp. 249-268
[4]	Bhadra, U., Pal-Bhadra, M., Birchler, J.A. Genetics, 155 (2000),pp. 753-763
[5]	Birchler, J.A. A study of enzyme activities in a dosage series of the long arm of chromosome one in maize Genetics, 92 (1979),pp. 1211-1229
[6]	Birchler, J.A. Genetics, 97 (1981),pp. 625-637
[7]	Birchler, J.A. Genet. Res., 59 (1992),pp. 11-18
[8]	Birchler, J.A. Science, 272 (1996),p. 1190
[9]	Birchler, J.A. Reflections on studies of gene expression in aneuploids Biochem. J., 426 (2010),pp. 119-123
[10]	Birchler, J.A., Bhadra, U., Pal-Bhadra, M. et al. Dosage-dependent gene regulation in multicellular eukaryotes: implications for dosage compensation, aneuploid syndromes and quantitative traits Dev. Biol., 234 (2001),pp. 275-288
[11]	Birchler, J.A., Hiebert, J.C., Krietzman, M. Genetics, 122 (1989),pp. 869-879
[12]	Birchler, J.A., Hiebert, J.C., Paigen, K. Genetics, 124 (1990),pp. 677-686
[13]	Birchler, J.A., Newton, K.J. Modulation of protein levels in chromosomal dosage series of maize: the biochemical basis of aneuploid syndromes Genetics, 99 (1981),pp. 247-266
[14]	Birchler, J.A., Riddle, N.C., Auger, D.L. et al. Dosage balance in gene regulation: biological implications Trends Genet., 21 (2005),pp. 219-226
[15]	Birchler, J.A., Veitia, R.A. The gene balance hypothesis: from classical genetics to modern genomics Plant Cell, 19 (2007),pp. 395-402
[16]	Birchler, J.A., Veitia, R.A. The gene balance hypothesis: implications for gene regulation, quantitative traits and evolution New Phytol., 186 (2010),pp. 54-62
[17]	Bone, J.R., Lavender, J., Richman, R. et al. Genes Dev., 8 (1994),pp. 96-104
[18]	Cline, T.W., Meyer, B.J. Annu. Rev. Genet., 30 (1996),pp. 637-702
[19]	Deng, X., Meller, V.H. Genetics, 174 (2006),pp. 1859-1866
[20]	Devlin, R.H., Holm, D.G., Grigliatti, T.A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 79 (1982),pp. 1200-1204
[21]	Devlin, R.H., Holm, D.G., Grigliatti, T.A. Genetics, 118 (1988),pp. 87-101
[22]	Guo, M., Birchler, J.A. Trans-acting dosage effects on the expression of the model gene systems in maize aneuploids Science, 266 (1994),pp. 1999-2002
[23]	Hiebert, J.C., Birchler, J.A. Genetics, 136 (1994),pp. 913-926
[24]	Hilfiker, A., Hilfiker-Kleiner, D., Pannuti, A. et al. EMBO J., 16 (1997),pp. 2054-2060
[25]	Jin, Y., Wang, Y., Walker, D.L. et al. Mol. Cell, 4 (1999),pp. 129-135
[26]	Jin, Y., Wang, Y., Johansen, J. et al. JIL-1, a chromosomal kinase implicated in regulation of chromatin structure, associates with the male specific lethal (MSL) dosage compensation complex J. Cell Biol., 149 (2000),pp. 1005-1010
[27]	Kuroda, M.I., Kernan, M.J., Kreber, R. et al. Cell, 66 (1991),pp. 6300-6304
[28]	Lucchesi, J.C., Belote, J.M., Maroni, G. Chromosoma, 65 (1977),pp. 1-7
[29]	Lucchesi, J.C., Kelly, W.C., Panning, B. Chromatin remodeling in dosage compensation Annu. Rev. Genet., 39 (2005),pp. 615-651
[30]	Lucchesi, J.C., Biochem. Genet., 9 (1973),pp. 41-51
[31]	Lucchesi, J.C., Genetics, 73 (1973),pp. 459-464
[32]	Lucchesi, J.C., , Maroni, G. Nature, 248 (1974),pp. 564-567
[33]	Margolis, O.S. Genetics, 19 (1934),pp. 18-84
[34]	Maroni, G., Plaut, W. Chromosoma, 40 (1973),pp. 361-377
[35]	Meller, V.H., Wu, K.H., Roman, G. et al. Cell, 88 (1997),pp. 445-457
[36]	Meller, V.H., Rattner, B.P. EMBO J., 21 (2002),pp. 1084-1091
[37]	Muller, H.J. Further studies on the nature and causes of gene mutations Proc. 6th. Int. Congr. Genet., 1 (1932),pp. 213-255
[38]	Pal Bhadra, M., Bhadra, U., Kundu, J. et al. Genetics, 169 (2005),pp. 2061-2074
[39]	Prestel, M., Feller, C., Straub, T. et al. The activation potential of MOF is constrained for dosage compensation Mol. Cell, 38 (2010),pp. 815-826
[40]	Rabinow, L., Nguyen-Huynh, A.T., Birchler, J.A. Genetics, 129 (1991),pp. 463-480
[41]	Ripoll, P., Garcia-Bellido, A. Genetics, 91 (1979),pp. 443-453
[42]	Stern, C. Dosage compensation–development of a concept and new facts Can. J. Genet. Cytol., 2 (1960),pp. 105-118
[43]	Sun, X., Birchler, J.A. Cytogenet. Genome Res., 124 (2009),pp. 298-311
[44]	Turner, B.M., Birley, A.J., Lavender, J. Cell, 69 (1992),pp. 375-384
[45]	Veitia, R.A., Bottani, S., Birchler, J.A. Cellular reactions to gene dosage imbalance: genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic effects Trends Genet., 24 (2008),pp. 390-397
[46]	Wang, Y., Zhang, W., Jin, Y. et al. Cell, 105 (2001),pp. 433-443