Yingke Ma

Graphical Abstract X Chromosome Inactivation In the Research Article (DOI: 2504754), Guihai Feng, Qi Zhou, Pengfei Wang, Yingke Ma, and co-workers present FemXpress, a systematic tool for analyzing cell-specific X chromosome inactivation (XCI) heterogeneity in female single-cell RNA-Seq samples. FemXpress provides critical support for uncovering functional differences and subpopulations arising from XCI.

1 Introduction In mammals, X chromosome inactivation (XCI) evolves into maintaining the gene dosage balance between XX females and XY males.[1] During the blastocyst stage, each female cell randomly inactivates one of the two X chromosomes, and this inactivated status is stably inherited by all daughter cells.[2] Generally, XCI is initiated by the long non-coding RNA Xist, which recruits a series of silencing complexes, gradually leading to heterochromatinization of the Xist-bound chromosome...

Abstract Expansion of tandem repeats in genes often causes severe neuromuscular diseases, such as fragile X syndrome, huntington's disease, and spinocerebellar ataxia. However, information on genes associated with repeat expansion diseases is scattered throughout the literature, systematic prediction of potential genes that may cause diseases via repeat expansion is also lacking.