STATISTICAL MECHANICS MODELS FOR X-CHROMOSOME INACTIVATION

Antonio Scialdone () and Mario Nicodemi ()
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Antonio Scialdone: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK;
Mario Nicodemi: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK;

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 2010, vol. 13, issue 03, 367-376

Abstract: We present statistical mechanics models to understand the physical and molecular mechanisms of X-Chromosome Inactivation (XCI), the process whereby a female mammal cell inactivates one of its two X-chromosomes. During XCI, X-chromosomes undergo a series of complex regulatory processes. At the beginning of XCI, the X's recognize and pair, then only one X which is randomly chosen is inactivated. Afterwards, the two X's move to different positions in the cell nucleus according to their different status (active/silenced). Our models illustrate about the still mysterious physical bases underlying all these regulatory steps, i.e., X-chromosome pairing, random choice of inactive X, and "shuttling" of the X's to their post-XCI locations. Our models are based on general and robust thermodynamic roots, and their validity can go beyond XCI, to explain analogous regulatory mechanisms in a variety of cellular processes.

Keywords: X-chromosome inactivation; statistical mechanics; computer simulations; genome spatial organization; chromosome stochastic regulatory mechanisms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1142/S0219525910002566

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