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Sex And Heterochromatin: An Investigation Of Sexual Dimorphism In Drosophila Melanogaster, Manasi S. Apte
Sex And Heterochromatin: An Investigation Of Sexual Dimorphism In Drosophila Melanogaster, Manasi S. Apte
Wayne State University Dissertations
Over 30% of Drosophila genome is assembled into heterochromatin. Heterochromatin is relatively gene poor, transcriptionally less active and remains condensed during interphase. Previous studies established that roX RNA and some of the Male Specific Lethal (MSL) proteins, all components of the dosage compensation complex, are required for full expression of autosomal heterochromatic genes in male flies but not in females. This was surprising since heterochromatin is generally not thought to be sexually dimorphic. The genetic basis for the regulation of sex-specific heterochromatin was completely unknown.
To determine if roX RNAs localize directly at the heterochromatic regions that they regulate, I …