High resolution replication patterns of the human Y chromosome. Intra- and interindividual variation

Mosaic expression of an Hprt transgene integrated in a region of Y heterochromatin

The sensitivity of small transgenes to position effects on their expression suggests that they could serve as indicators of the chromatin properties at their integration site. In particular, they might be expected to provide information on the functional properties of mammalian heterochromatin. We have produced a transgenic line that carries a mouse Hprt minigene on the Y chromosome. In situ hybridization localized the transgene to the heterochromatic portion of the Y. Analysis of transgene expression by isoelectric focusing indicated that the transgene is expressed in a mosaic pattern, and expressing cells have different levels of transgene activity. These findings can be explained as a position effect variegation induced by Y heterochromatin. However, two other transgenes, located at autosomal sites, also showed mosaic activity. If the mosaic transgene expression is attributed to the influence of the chromatin at the insertion site, the Y heterochromatin would appear less potent than some autosomal regions at inducing variegation. An alternative explanation consistent with our results is that the mosaic expression is a semi-autonomous characteristic of these transgene loci. Transgene-expressing and non-expressing cells differed in their ability to grow and be cloned in vitro, indicating that cellular differentiation affected the chromatin structure of the transgene locus on the Y. Karyotype analysis of male mice with the Y-linked transgene and from control male mice carrying the human HPRT transgene, or the mouse Pgk-1 gene at autosomal sites, indicated that the transgene-carrying Y is prone to non-disjunction, generating cells with two (or more) or no Y chromosomes in equal proportion. Further studies will determine if the propensity of this Y chromosome to mitotic errors is also observed in vivo.

Analysis of DNA replication during S-phase by means of dynamic chromosome banding at high resolution

The characteristic patterns of dynamic banding (replication banding) were analysed. Extremely high resolution (850 to 1,250 bands per genome) G- and R-band patterns were obtained after 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdUrd) incorporation either during the early or the late S-phase. We synchronized human lymphocytes with high concentrations of thymidine or BrdUrd as blocking agents, followed by low concentrations of BrdUrd or thymidine respectively as releasing agents, and obtained R- or G-band patterns respectively. The dynamic R- and G-band patterns were complementary for all chromosomes, even for the late-replicating X chromosome. There was no overlapping and every part of each chromosome was positively stained by one of the two banding procedures. The complementarity of the two patterns shows that both high thymidine and high BrdUrd concentrations blocked S-phase progression near the R-band to G-band replication transition in the middle of S-phase. Some bands of the inactive X chromosome replicate before this transition concurrently with R-band replication. The 48 different telomeric regions could be classified into 5 distinct morphotypes based upon the distribution of early and late-replicating DNA in each telomeric region. The dynamic band patterns are particularly useful for the study of the structural and physiological organization of chromosomes at high resolution and should prove invaluable for assessing the replication behavior of rearranged chromosomes.

Higher resolution banding techniques in the clinical routine

Experience with higher resolution banding techniques is described. Cell synchronization and different chemicals which delay the mitotic condensation process were tried. None of these agents alone was able to induce undercondensation in a sufficient way in any of the patients investigated. Of the banding techniques, GTG banding proved preferable, but in some special cases RBA banding will be more informative.

Moderately repeated DNA sequences specific for the short arm of the human Y chromosome are present in XX males and reduced in copy number in an XY female

Four DNA sequences specific for the Y chromosome were isolated from a recombinant phage library constructed from flow sorted human Y chromosomes. Two of these sequences were moderately repeated and assigned to the short arm of the Y chromosome by in situ hybridization. Both sequences were detected in five out of six [corrected] 46,XX males and were reduced in copy number in one out of two 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis patients tested. The findings suggest close proximity of these Y-specific moderately repeated DNA sequences to a testis determining locus.

A 45,X male with evidence of a translocation of Y euchromatin onto chromosome 15

A 19-year-old male with azoospermia was found to have a 45,X karyotype with additional euchromatic material on 15p. The parents' karyotypes are normal. The cytogenetic data, the positive H-Y-typing, and the presence of Yp-specific restriction fragments detected in the proband's genome by molecular DNA probes suggest that the short arm of the Y chromosome, including part of the centromere, is translocated onto the nucleolus organizer region (NOR) of chromosome 15.

Satellited Y chromosomes: structure, origin, and clinical significance

Three cases of inherited satellited Y chromosomes (Yqs) were analysed using several cytogenetic techniques. The cytogenetic data of the 14 cases of Yqs chromosomes described to date were reviewed. All Yqs chromosomes carry an active nucleolus organizer region (NOR) in their long arm and must have developed from translocations involving the short arms of the acrocentric autosomes. The structure of the heterochromatic satellite region in the Yqs chromosomes shows conspicuous inter-familial differences; this permits the reconstruction of the translocations from which the various Yqs were derived. Some causal factors leading to the development of Yqs chromosomes are considered: the specific localization of the four satellite DNAs and highly methylated DNA sequences in the karyotype, and some new experimental data on the spatial arrangement of heterochromatic regions in interphase nuclei. These provide distinct evidence for a preferential involvement of the autosomes 15 and 22 in the translocations with the Y heterochromatin. All clinical reports documenting Yqs males born with malformations were reviewed. It appears that the presence of an extra NOR and NOR-associated heterochromatin in the Yqs chromosomes does not cause any phenotypic abnormalities (as long as the Y euchromatin is intact). The possibility that a Yqs chromosome predisposes to non-disjunction and/or to translocations of other chromosomes is discussed.

Cytologic evidence for three human X-chromosomal segments escaping inactivation

Early replication of prometaphasic human sex chromosomes was studied with the bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-replication technique. The studies reveal that two distal segments of Xp, including bands Xp 22.13 and Xp 22.3, replicate early in S-phase and therefore may not be subject to random inactivation. Furthermore, the replication of these distal segments of Xp occurs synchronously with those of the short arm of the Y chromosome including bands Yp 11.2 and Yp 11.32. These segments of Xp and Yp correspond well to the pairing segment of the X and Y chromosomes where a synaptonemal complex forms at early pachytene of human spermatogenesis. The homologous early replication of Yp and the distal portion of Xp may be interpreted as a remnant left untouched by the differentiation of heteromorphic sex chromosomes from originally homomorphic autosomes. A third early replicating segment is situated on the long arm of the X chromosome and corresponds to band Xq 13.1. This segment may be correlated with the X-inactivation center postulated by Therman et al. (1979).

Quantitative analysis of C-bands in chromosomes 1, 9, 16, and Y of twins

Thirty-two pairs of Caucasoid twins, 16 monozygotic (MZ) and 16 dizygotic (DZ) of the same sex, were studied by densitometry in relation to the C-bands of chromosomes 1, 9, 16, and Y. Confirming earlier results, concordance was not absolute among MZ. Estimates of the degree of genetic determination for these traits varied from 0.73 to 0.89 for the autosomes and from 0.86 to 0.95 for the Y. There are now stronger indications that a fraction of the intergeneration variability found in these structures may be real, probably due to mitotic and/or meiotic unequal crossing-over.