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Barr Bodies The Lyon Hypothesis and Dosage Compensation
Barr Bodies The Lyon Hypothesis and Dosage Compensation
Barr Bodies The Lyon Hypothesis and Dosage Compensation
In 1949, Murray Barr found that staining cat cells with Feulgen, a stain
that binds to DNA, often resulted in the appearance of a "drumstick" in
interphase nuclei, but only if the cat was female. Later it was learned that
cells of normal human females also have a "Barr body" and that Triplo X
females have 2 Barr bodies, per cell, Turner's none etc.
Mary Lyon correctly hypothesized that the Barr Bodies are actually
condensed, inactive X chromosomes: She also said that:
•Dosage compensation, that is, why normal males and females have
the same amount of gene products or enzymes coded for by sex-
linked genes;
There are now good X-specific and Y-specific probes for detecting the
number of X and Y chromosomes in any cell.
Genomic Imprinting
Sex-Limited Traits
Sex-Influenced Traits
Traits that are dominant in one sex but recessive in the other are said to
be sex influenced.
When dealing with these traits, the legend must show the sex as well as
the phenotype to describe the mode of inheritance. Note the difference in
heterozygous males and females in the example below:
Example: