Analysis shows pervasive x-inactivation across tissues in females, suggesting its role in x-linked trait expression.
As females are mosaic for X-inactivation, direct determination of X-linked allelic expression in bulk tissues is typically unfeasible. Using females that are non-mosaic (completely skewed) for X-inactivation (nmXCI) has proven a powerful and natural genetic system for profiling X-inactivation in humans. By combining allele-resolution data for one previously reported and two newly identified nmXCI females, we directly determined X-inactivation status of 380 X-linked genes across 30 normal tissues, including 198 genes for which XCI status is directly determined for the first time. Our findings represent a substantial advance in our understanding of human X-inactivation and will serve as a reference for dissecting the genetic origin of sex bias in human traits. In addition, our study reveals nmXCI as a common feature of the human female population, with profound consequences for the penetrance and expressivity of X-linked traits in humans.
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Gylemo et al. (2025) studied this question.
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