In mammals, lineage committed female cells display X chromosome inactivation, where one of the two X chromosomes becomes silent to equalise dosage with XY males. This is an extreme example of gene silencing, where hundreds of genes become silenced in parallel through epigenetic mechanisms. Pluripotent female stem cells do not display X chromosome inactivation and are instead in a pre-inactivated state, transcriptionally active from both X chromosomes. This makes female pluripotent stem cells unique, even from male stem cells, and there are associated functional differences. These differences may have profound consequences when male and female stem cells are utilised for regenerative medicine.
This project utilises molecular biology, genomics and microscopy to study epigenetic silencing and how this shapes female pluripotent stem cell identity.