SELF-IMPOSED SILENCE: PARENTAL ANTAGONISM AND THE EVOLUTION OF X-CHROMOSOME INACTIVATION

David Haig

doi:10.1554/05-474.1

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David Haig^1,2

¹Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
²dhaig@oeb.harvard.edu

Abstract

A model is proposed for the evolution of X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) in which natural selection initially favors the silencing of paternally derived alleles of X-linked demand inhibitors. The compensatory upregulation of maternally derived alleles establishes a requirement for monoallelic expression in females. For this reason, XCI is self-reinforcing once established. However, inactivation of a particular X chromosome is not. Random XCI (rXCI) is favored over paternal XCI because rXCI reduces the costs of functional hemizygosity in females. Once present, rXCI favors the evolution of locus-by-locus imprinting of X-linked loci, which creates an evolutionary dynamic in which different chromosomes compete to remain active.

Citation Download Citation

David Haig "SELF-IMPOSED SILENCE: PARENTAL ANTAGONISM AND THE EVOLUTION OF X-CHROMOSOME INACTIVATION," Evolution 60(3), 440-447, (1 March 2006). https://doi.org/10.1554/05-474.1

Received: 22 August 2005; Accepted: 19 December 2005; Published: 1 March 2006