A study of the chromosome X inactivation in non-human primates

• Grant number: 18/14856-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): January 17, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics
• Acordo de Cooperação: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Lygia da Veiga Pereira
• Grantee: Ana Luíza Cidral
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/10367-5 - Derivation of naive stem cells for the characterization of the X chromosome inactivation, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

The chromosome X inactivation is the dosage compensation mechanism in most mammals. The CXI is necessary given the genetic determination system in which females are XX and males are XY. The processes leading to the chromosome X inactivation in mice are well established, however this is not true regarding humans and other primates. The few published studies in this area suggest a wide variety of aspects that differ between diverse species, one of them being the embryonic stage in which the CXI begins. The recent introduction of single-cell RNA sequencing technology provides the opportunity to dive deeper into the study of this mechanism with the use of small amounts of embryonic cells, which allow us to analyze the monoallelic or biallelic expression of X-linked genes. This study aims to accomplish such analysis in published scRNA-seq data from Macaca fascicularis, with the focus on defining the chromosome X inactivation dynamics in this species, determining the embryonic stage in which the mechanism is initiated and establishing comparisons with the scientific findings that regard humans.