Histone macroH2A1.2 is concentrated in the XY compartment of mammalian male meiotic nuclei

Abstract

We show here that histone macroH2A1.2 concentrates at the transcriptionally silent XY body, normally being formed during male meiosis in the mouse. A similar accumulation has earlier been observed on the inactive X chromosomes of somatic adult female mammalian cells by Costanzi and Pehrson (1998). This correspondence in the nature of heterochromatinization of the X chromosomes in males and females adds another property of X chromosome inactivation that is shared by males and females at different phases of their life cycle.