Barr Bodies and X-Chromosome Balance

Barr bodies and X-chromosome balance help explain how female mammalian cells control gene activity from the X chromosome. The human X chromosome carries far more genes than the Y chromosome. Because males usually have one X chromosome and females have two, females would make twice as many of some proteins without a control s...

In organisms that possess multiple copies of the same chromosome, like females who have two X chromosomes, a genetic compensation process must occur during early development. X chromosome inactivation, or XCI, is the process in which one of the chromosomes in a cell is randomly silenced to prevent the over-expression of the same genes. The inact...