Xist-dependent imprinted X inactivation and the early developmental consequences of its failure

Maud Borensztein, Laurène Syx, Katia Ancelin, Patricia Diabangouaya, Christel Picard, Tao Liu, Jun-Bin Liang, Ivaylo Vassilev, Rafael Galupa, Nicolas Servant, Emmanuel Barillot, Azim Surani, Chong-Jian Chen, Edith Heard

The long noncoding RNA Xist is expressed from only the paternal X chromosome in mouse preimplantation female embryos and mediates transcriptional silencing of that chromosome. In females, absence of Xist leads to postimplantation lethality. Here, through single-cell RNA sequencing of early preimplantation mouse embryos, we found that the initiation of imprinted X-chromosome inactivation absolutely requires Xist. Lack of paternal Xist leads to genome-wide transcriptional misregulation in the early blastocyst and to failure to activate the extraembryonic pathway that is essential for postimplantation development. We also demonstrate that the expression dynamics of X-linked genes depends on the strain and parent of origin as well as on the location along the X chromosome, particularly at the first 'entry' sites of Xist. This study demonstrates that dosage-compensation failure has an effect as early as the blastocyst stage and reveals genetic and epigenetic contributions to orchestrating transcriptional silencing of the X chromosome during early embryogenesis.