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World Scientific Publishing, Advances in Complex Systems, 03(13), p. 367-376

DOI: 10.1142/s0219525910002566

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Statistical mechanics models for X-chromosome inactivation

Journal article published in 2010 by Antonio Scialdone, Mario Nicodemi ORCID
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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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.