Open AccessDosage Compensation and the Distribution of Sex-Biased Gene Expression in Drosophila: Considerations and Genomic Constraints
Author(s) -
Miguel Gallach,
Esther Betrán
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of molecular evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 123
eISSN - 1432-1432
pISSN - 0022-2844
DOI - 10.1007/s00239-016-9735-y
Subject(s) - biology , dosage compensation , gene , genetics , gene expression , downregulation and upregulation , x chromosome , drosophila (subgenus) , gene dosage , regulation of gene expression
Several studies in Drosophila have shown a paucity of male-biased genes (i.e., genes that express higher in males than in females) on the X chromosome. Dosage compensation (DC) is a regulatory mechanism of gene expression triggered in males that hypertranscribes the X-linked genes to the level of transcription in females. There are currently two different hypotheses about the effects of DC on the distribution of male-biased genes: (1) it might limit male-expression level, or (2) it might interfere with the male upregulation of gene expression. Here, we used previously published gene expression datasets to reevaluate both hypotheses and introduce a mutually exclusive prediction that helped us to reject the hypothesis that the paucity of male-biased genes in the X chromosome is due to a limit in the male-expression level. Our analysis also uncovers unanticipated details about how DC interferes with the genomic distribution of both, male-biased and female-biased genes. We suggest that DC actually interferes with female downregulation of gene expression and not male upregulation, as previously suggested.