In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Claire Rougeulle from the Epigenetics and Cell Fate Center at Université Paris City about her work on gene expression control, the intricacies of X-chromosome inactivation, and the potential of non-coding RNAs in this process.

In this episode Claire Rougeulle explains her discoveries regarding the transcription regulation of XIST by factors like YY1 and the erosion of X-chromosome inactivation in human pluripotent stem cells. She shares the complexity of distinguishing between epigenetics and transcriptional regulation, highlighting the challenges in studying allelic expression of X-chromosomes at the single-cell level.

The Episode further explores Claire's findings on the XACT locus regulation, evolution from retroviruses, and its potential role in preventing X-chromosome silencing. Claire also shares her future research focus on understanding X-inactivation establishment in humans and the transition from XIST attenuating to silencing X-chromosomes after implantation.

Makhlouf, M., Ouimette, J. F., Oldfield, A., Navarro, P., Neuillet, D., & Rougeulle, C. (2014). A prominent and conserved role for YY1 in Xist transcriptional activation. Nature communications, 5, 4878. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5878

Vallot, C., Ouimette, J. F., Makhlouf, M., Féraud, O., Pontis, J., Côme, J., Martinat, C., Bennaceur-Griscelli, A., Lalande, M., & Rougeulle, C. (2015). Erosion of X Chromosome Inactivation in Human Pluripotent Cells Initiates with XACT Coating and Depends on a Specific Heterochromatin Landscape. Cell stem cell, 16(5), 533–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2015.03.016

Casanova, M., Moscatelli, M., Chauvière, L. É., Huret, C., Samson, J., Liyakat Ali, T. M., Rosspopoff, O., & Rougeulle, C. (2019). A primate-specific retroviral enhancer wires the XACT lncRNA into the core pluripotency network in humans. Nature communications, 10(1), 5652. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13551-1

Epigenetics and X-Inactivation (Edith Heard)

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