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Silencing XIST on the future active X: Searching human and bovine preimplantation embryos for the repressor

European Journal of Human Genetics volume 32, pages 399–406 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

X inactivation is the means of equalizing the dosage of X chromosomal genes in male and female eutherian mammals, so that only one X is active in each cell. The XIST locus (in cis) on each additional X chromosome initiates the transcriptional silence of that chromosome, making it an inactive X. How the active X in both males and females is protected from inactivation by its own XIST locus is not well understood in any mammal. Previous studies of autosomal duplications suggest that gene(s) on the short arm of human chromosome 19 repress XIST on the active X. Here, we examine the time of transcription of some candidate genes in preimplantation embryos using single-cell RNA sequencing data from human embryos and qRT-PCR from bovine embryos. The candidate genes assayed are those transcribed from 19p13.3-13.2, which are widely expressed and can remodel chromatin. Our results confirm that XIST is expressed at low levels from the future active X in embryos of both sexes; they also show that the XIST locus is repressed in both sexes when pluripotency factors are being upregulated, during the 4–8 cell and morula stages in human and bovine embryos – well before the early blastocyst (E5) when XIST on the inactive X in females starts to be upregulated. Our data suggest a role for DNMT1, UHRF1, SAFB and SAFB2 in XIST repression; they also exclude XACT and other 19p candidate genes and provide the transcriptional timing for some genes not previously assayed in human or bovine preimplantation embryos.

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Fig. 1: Box plots of gene expression (RPKM).
Fig. 2: Box plots of gene expression (RPKM).
Fig. 3: The relative expressions of candidate XIST repressor genes in female (red bars) and male (blue bars) bovine embryos from 4-cell stage to day 8 blastocysts, as detected by quantitative RT-PCR.

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All data can be found within this published article and its supplementary files.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to our Hopkins colleagues, Michael Beer, Hans Bjornsson, Haig Kazazian, Garry Cutting, Jeremy Nathans for their careful reading of the paper and their insightful suggestions.

Funding

BY is supported by a PhD scholarship from the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) (CSC201606300033).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McKusick Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine and Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Melis A. Aksit & Barbara R. Migeon

  2. Farm Animal Health, Department of Population Health Sciences, and Utrecht University, 3584CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Bo Yu

  3. Embryology, Anatomy and Physiology, Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Bernard A. J. Roelen

  4. The Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Barbara R. Migeon

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  1. Melis A. Aksit
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Contributions

MAA was responsible for extracting and analysing data, interpreting results, and writing the manuscript. BY was responsible for conducting the experiments and writing methods and results. BAJR was responsible for providing bovine embryo samples, writing the report, interpreting results and providing feedback on the manuscript. BRM was responsible for conceptual design, interpreting results and writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Barbara R. Migeon.

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Aksit, M.A., Yu, B., Roelen, B.A.J. et al. Silencing XIST on the future active X: Searching human and bovine preimplantation embryos for the repressor. Eur J Hum Genet 32, 399–406 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-022-01115-9

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