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Every female human consists of two X-chromosomes in each cell. However, while on of them does all the work, the other one is almost dormant. The secret of this silent X-chromosome has been revealed by the Indian-American researcher from the University of Michigan Medical School who says that this one stays silent because it is holding the DNA in it like an unread book. Many diseases such as autism, muscular dystrophy and haemophilia are conditions that are linked to genes found in X-chromosome. These findings could help tackle these diseases by identifying new ways to study the X-chromosomes linked to certain medical conditions that may reveal something about it, reported Indian Express

The team found that 'Xist RNA', a known molecule, is not enough to silence the X-chromosome. "Xist is widely believed to be both necessary and sufficient for X silencing," said team leader Sundeep Kalantry. "We, for the first time, show that it is not sufficient and there have to be other factors - on the X-chromosome itself - that activate 'Xist' and then cooperate with 'Xist RNA' to silence the X-chromosome," he elaborated. "We for the first time show that it is not sufficient, that there have to be other factors, on the X-chromosome itself, that activate Xist and then cooperate with Xist RNA to silence the X-chromosome," he added, reports Live Mint. "In females, we could envision 'reawakening' a healthy copy of an X-linked gene on the inactive X chromosome, by modulating the dose of these escapee genes and ameliorating the effects of the unhealthy copy," said Kalantry. "That means that if researchers can determine exactly which factors cause X-inactivation to occur, they could find ways to affect the activity of genes on the X chromosomes - specifically, genes involved in certain diseases." the authors noted.