<i>MAYEX</i>is an old long noncoding RNA recruited for X chromosome dosage compensation in a reptile
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are essential regulatory elements of sex chromosomes that act to equalize gene expression levels between males and females. <i>XIST</i>, <i>RSX</i>, and <i>roX2</i> regulate X chromosomes in placental mammals, marsupials, and <i>Drosophila</i>, respectively. Because the green anole (<i>Anolis carolinensis</i>) shows complete dosage compensation of its X chromosome, we tested whether a lncRNA was involved. We found an ancient lncRNA, <i>MAYEX</i>, that gained male-specific expression more than 89 million years ago. <i>MAYEX</i> evolved a notable association with the acetylated histone 4 lysine 16 (H4K16ac) epigenetic mark and the ability to loop its locus to the totality of the X chromosome to increase expression levels. <i>MAYEX</i> is the first lncRNA in reptiles linked to a dosage compensation mechanism that balances the expression of sex chromosomes.
Authors
- José Antonio Corona-Gómez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5601-4821)
- Mario Zurita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8404-2173)
- Robert J. Ossiboff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6951-6070)
- Sergio Encarnación‐Guevara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7889-1681)
- Selene L. Fernández-Valverde (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9020-1716)
- Diego Cortez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0654-6349)
- Joanna Serwatowska (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9256-0053)
- Fausto R. Méndez‐de la Cruz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5084-1276)
- Diego M. Arenas‐Moreno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3514-8860)
- Mariela Tenorio
- Cynthia D. Flores-Aguirre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8356-0358)
- Katarzyna Oktaba (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3950-5626)
- Samantha Cruz-Ruiz
- Fania Sheccid-Santiago
- Sinai López-Perdomo
- Magdalena Hernández
Institutions
- University of Florida (US)
- Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Irapuato (MX)
- Instituto Politécnico Nacional (MX)
- Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (MX)
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2024-09-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp1932
- Citations
- 19
- Primary Topic
- Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.13