Aging promotes reactivation of the Barr body at distal chromosome regions [snRNA]
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE274692 | GEO | 2025/03/21
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Decades ago, evidence of age-related reactivation of a single gene on the female inactive X chromosome was observed in mice. While stable silencing of the Barr body is crucial for balancing gene dosage between sexes, it remained unclear whether silencing is maintained during aging. Here, we employed allele-specific multi-omics approaches to capture a comprehensive catalog of genes escaping X chromosome inactivation throughout mouse development and aging. We found substantially elevated escape rates during aging across organs, occurring in multiple distinct cell types and concentrated at distal chromosome regions. Consistently, chromatin accessibility was increased across multiple megabases at chromosome ends, affecting regulatory elements of escapees. Since several age-specific escapees are linked to human diseases, their elevated expression in females might contribute to sex-biased disease progression observed during aging.
2025-03-21 | GSE274689 | GEO
Project description:Decades ago, evidence of age-related reactivation of a single gene on the female inactive X chromosome was observed in mice. While stable silencing of the Barr body is crucial for balancing gene dosage between sexes, it remained unclear whether silencing is maintained during aging. Here, we employed allele-specific multi-omics approaches to capture a comprehensive catalog of genes escaping X chromosome inactivation throughout mouse development and aging. We found substantially elevated escape rates during aging across organs, occurring in multiple distinct cell types and concentrated at distal chromosome regions. Consistently, chromatin accessibility was increased across multiple megabases at chromosome ends, affecting regulatory elements of escapees. Since several age-specific escapees are linked to human diseases, their elevated expression in females might contribute to sex-biased disease progression observed during aging.
2025-03-21 | GSE274694 | GEO
Project description:Decades ago, evidence of age-related reactivation of a single gene on the female inactive X chromosome was observed in mice. While stable silencing of the Barr body is crucial for balancing gene dosage between sexes, it remained unclear whether silencing is maintained during aging. Here, we employed allele-specific multi-omics approaches to capture a comprehensive catalog of genes escaping X chromosome inactivation throughout mouse development and aging. We found substantially elevated escape rates during aging across organs, occurring in multiple distinct cell types and concentrated at distal chromosome regions. Consistently, chromatin accessibility was increased across multiple megabases at chromosome ends, affecting regulatory elements of escapees. Since several age-specific escapees are linked to human diseases, their elevated expression in females might contribute to sex-biased disease progression observed during aging.
2025-03-21 | GSE274690 | GEO
Project description:X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) provides a dosage compensation mechanism where, in each female cell, one of the two X chromosomes is randomly silenced. However, some genes on the inactive X chromosome and outside the pseudoautosomal regions escape from XCI and are expressed from both alleles (escapees). We investigated XCI at single-cell resolution combining deep single cellRNA sequencing with whole-genome sequencing to examine allelic-specific expression in 935 primary fibroblast and 48 lymphoblastoid single cells from five female individuals. In this framework we integrated an original method to identify and exclude doublets of cells. In fibroblast cells, we have identified 55 genes as escapees including five novel escapee genes. Moreover, we observed that all genes exhibit a variable propensity to escape XCI in each cell and cell type and that each cell displays a distinct expression profile of the escapee genes. A metric, the Inactivation Score—defined as the mean of the allelic expression profiles of the escapees per cell—enables us to discover a heterogeneous and continuous degree of cellular XCI with extremes represented by “inactive” cells, i.e., cells exclusively expressing the escaping genes from the active X chromosome and “escaping” cells expressing the escapees from both alleles. We found that this effect is associated with cell-cycle phases and, independently, with the XIST expression level, which is higher in the quiescent phase (G0). Single-cell allele-specific expression is a powerful tool to identify novel escapees in different tissues and provide evidence of an unexpected cellular heterogeneity of XCI.
2019-01-02 | GSE123028 | GEO
Project description:3D-topology of DNA in the cell nucleus provides a level of transcription regulation beyond the sequence of the linear DNA. To study the relationship between transcriptional activity and spatial environment of a gene, we have used allele-specific 4C-technology to produce high-resolution topology maps of the active and inactive X-chromosomes in female cells. We found that loci on the active X form multiple long-range interactions, with spatial segregation of active and inactive chromatin. On the inactive X, silenced loci lack preferred interactions, suggesting a unique random organization inside the inactive territory. However, escapees, among which is Xist, are engaged in long-range contacts with each other, enabling identification of novel escapees. Deletion of Xist results in partial re-folding of the inactive X into a conformation resembling the active X, without affecting gene silencing or DNA methylation. Our data point to a role for Xist RNA in shaping the conformation of the inactive X-chromosome independently of transcription. Five or six 4C viewpoints were applied on the mouse female wild type active X-chromosome, the wild type inactive X-chromosome, the conditional Xist X-chromosome and the Xist knock out X-chromosome
2011-06-24 | E-GEOD-29509 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Background: During early embryonic development, one of the two X chromosomes in mammalian female cells is inactivated to compensate for a potential imbalance in transcript levels with male cells containing a single X chromosome. We use mouse female Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) with nonrandom XCI and polymorphic X chromosomes to study the dynamics of gene silencing over the inactive X chromosome (Xi) by high-resolution allele-specific RNA-Seq. Results: Induction of XCI by differentiation of female ESCs shows that genes proximal to the X-inactivation center (XIC) are silenced earlier than distal genes, while lowly expressed genes show faster XCI dynamics than highly expressed genes. The active X chromosome shows a minor but significant increase in gene activity during differentiation, resulting in complete dosage compensation in differentiated cell types. Genes escaping XCI show little or no silencing during early propagation of XCI. Using allele-specific RNA-Seq of Neural Progenitor Cells (NPCs) generated from the female ESCs, we identify three regions distal to the XIC that stably escape XCI during differentiation of the female ESCs, as well as during propagation of the NPCs. These regions coincide with Topologically Associated Domains (TADs) as determined in the undifferentiated female ESCs. Also the previously characterized human gene clusters escaping XCI correlate with TADs. Conclusions: Together, the dynamics of gene silencing observed over the Xi during XCI provide further insight in the formation and maintenance of the repressive Xi complex. The association of regions of escape with TADs, in mouse and human, suggests a regulatory role for TADs during propagation of XCI. 19 RNA-Seq profiles of mouse ESCs, EpiSCs and NPCs, mostly from distant crosses to allow allele specific mapping. 1 HiC profile of an undifferentiated mouse female ESC line containing a Tsix mutation. Mainly focusing on X inactivation.
2015-06-15 | E-GEOD-60738 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Background: During early embryonic development, one of the two X chromosomes in mammalian female cells is inactivated to compensate for a potential imbalance in transcript levels with male cells containing a single X chromosome. We use mouse female Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) with nonrandom XCI and polymorphic X chromosomes to study the dynamics of gene silencing over the inactive X chromosome (Xi) by high-resolution allele-specific RNA-Seq. Results: Induction of XCI by differentiation of female ESCs shows that genes proximal to the X-inactivation center (XIC) are silenced earlier than distal genes, while lowly expressed genes show faster XCI dynamics than highly expressed genes. The active X chromosome shows a minor but significant increase in gene activity during differentiation, resulting in complete dosage compensation in differentiated cell types. Genes escaping XCI show little or no silencing during early propagation of XCI. Using allele-specific RNA-Seq of Neural Progenitor Cells (NPCs) generated from the female ESCs, we identify three regions distal to the XIC that stably escape XCI during differentiation of the female ESCs, as well as during propagation of the NPCs. These regions coincide with Topologically Associated Domains (TADs) as determined in the undifferentiated female ESCs. Also the previously characterized human gene clusters escaping XCI correlate with TADs. Conclusions: Together, the dynamics of gene silencing observed over the Xi during XCI provide further insight in the formation and maintenance of the repressive Xi complex. The association of regions of escape with TADs, in mouse and human, suggests a regulatory role for TADs during propagation of XCI.
2015-06-15 | GSE60738 | GEO
Project description:To initiate X-chromosome inactivation (XCI), the long non-coding RNA Xist mediates chromosome-wide gene silencing of one X chromosome in female mammals to equalize gene dosage between the sexes. The efficiency of gene silencing, however is highly variable across genes, with some genes even escaping XCI in somatic cells. A gene’s susceptibility to Xist-mediated silencing appears to be determined by a complex interplay of epigenetic and genomic features; however, the underlying rules remain poorly understood. We have quantified chromosome-wide gene silencing kinetics at the level of the nascent transcriptome using allele-specific Precision nuclear Run-On sequencing (PRO-seq). We have developed a Random Forest machine learning model that can predict the measured silencing dynamics based on a large set of epigenetic and genomic features and tested its predictive power experimentally. While the genomic distance to the Xist locus is the prime determinant of the speed of gene silencing, we find that also pre-marking of gene promoters with polycomb complexes is associated with fast silencing. Moreover, a series of features associated with active transcription and the O-GlcNAc transferase Ogt are enriched at rapidly silenced genes. Our machine learning approach can thus uncover the complex combinatorial rules underlying gene silencing during X inactivation.
2019-06-06 | GSE121144 | GEO
Project description:X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is a dosage compensation mechanism that silences the majority of genes on one X chromosome in each female cell. In order to characterize epigenetic changes that accompany this process, we measured DNA methylation levels in both 45,X Turner syndrome patients, who carry a single active X chromosome (Xa) and normal 46,XX females, who carry one Xa and one inactive X (Xi). Methylated DNA was immunoprecipitated and hybridized to tiling oligonucleotide arrays, generating epigenetic profiles of active and inactive X chromosomes. We observed that XCI is accompanied by changes in DNA methylation specifically at CpG islands. While the majority of CpG islands show increased methylation levels on the Xi, XCI results in reduced methylation at ~20% of CpG islands. Both intra- and inter-genic CpG islands are epigenetically modified, with the biggest increase in methylation occuring at the promoters of genes silenced by XCI. In contrast, genes escaping XCI have low levels of promoter methylation, while genes that undergo polymorphic silencing show intermediate increases in methylation proportionate to their frequency of inactivation. Thus promoter methylation and susceptibility to XCI are correlated. We observed a global correlation between CpG island methylation and the evolutionary age of different X chromosome strata, and that genes escaping XCI show increased methylation within gene bodies. We utilized our epigenetic map to predict both novel genes escaping XCI, and to identify sequence features that may contribute to the XCI process. Finally, as our study included Turner syndrome patients with single X chromosomes of both maternal and paternal origin we searched for parent-of-origin specific methylation differences, but found no evidence to support imprinting on the human X chromosome. Our study provides the first epigenetic profile of active and inactive X chromosomes, giving novel insights into the phenomenon of dosage compensation.
2010-07-20 | GSE22551 | GEO
Project description:X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is a dosage compensation mechanism that silences the majority of genes on one X chromosome in each female cell. In order to characterize epigenetic changes that accompany this process, we measured DNA methylation levels in both 45,X Turner syndrome patients, who carry a single active X chromosome (Xa) and normal 46,XX females, who carry one Xa and one inactive X (Xi). Methylated DNA was immunoprecipitated and hybridized to tiling oligonucleotide arrays, generating epigenetic profiles of active and inactive X chromosomes. We observed that XCI is accompanied by changes in DNA methylation specifically at CpG islands. While the majority of CpG islands show increased methylation levels on the Xi, XCI results in reduced methylation at ~20% of CpG islands. Both intra- and inter-genic CpG islands are epigenetically modified, with the biggest increase in methylation occuring at the promoters of genes silenced by XCI. In contrast, genes escaping XCI have low levels of promoter methylation, while genes that undergo polymorphic silencing show intermediate increases in methylation proportionate to their frequency of inactivation. Thus promoter methylation and susceptibility to XCI are correlated. We observed a global correlation between CpG island methylation and the evolutionary age of different X chromosome strata, and that genes escaping XCI show increased methylation within gene bodies. We utilized our epigenetic map to predict both novel genes escaping XCI, and to identify sequence features that may contribute to the XCI process. Finally, as our study included Turner syndrome patients with single X chromosomes of both maternal and paternal origin we searched for parent-of-origin specific methylation differences, but found no evidence to support imprinting on the human X chromosome. Our study provides the first epigenetic profile of active and inactive X chromosomes, giving novel insights into the phenomenon of dosage compensation. Methylated DNA was enriched by immunoprecipitation using antibodies against 5-methylcytosine. meDIP and input DNA was labeled with cy5 and cy3 respectively and hybridized to Nimblegen arrays comprising 2.1 million 50-85mers covering human chromosomes 20, 21, 22, X and Y at a mean density of ~1 probe per 100bp. Resulting log2 fluorescence ratios correspond to methylation levels. Seven patients with Turner syndrome (45,X karyotype), and three normal females (46,XX karyotype) were analyzed. Of the Turner syndrome cases, four had a maternally-derived X, and three had a paternally-derived X chromosome.
2010-07-20 | E-GEOD-22551 | biostudies-arrayexpress