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Rapid transcriptional bursts upregulate the X chromosome

Upregulation of the X chromosome compensates for the presence of a single active X chromosome in mammals, but this has been difficult to measure and to understand mechanistically. A study now demonstrates that increased burst frequency boosts the transcriptional output of X-linked genes in male and female cells with a single active X chromosome. Interestingly, female embryonic stem cells lack increased burst frequency, which is established only after inactivation of the X chromosome takes place; this finding reveals a switch that can modulate transcriptional bursting.

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Fig. 1: X upregulation via an increased frequency of transcriptional bursting.

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Correspondence to Xinxian Deng or Christine M. Disteche.

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Deng, X., Disteche, C.M. Rapid transcriptional bursts upregulate the X chromosome. Nat Struct Mol Biol 26, 851–853 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-019-0314-y

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