Erosion of human X chromosome inactivation causes major remodelling of the iPSC proteome

Abstract

X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is a dosage compensation mechanism in female mammals whereby genes from one X chromosome are repressed. Analysis of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines using proteomics, RNAseq and polysome profiling showed a major change in the proteome upon XCI erosion. This resulted in amplified RNA and protein expression from X-linked genes. However, increased protein expression was also detected from autosomal genes without a corresponding mRNA increase, altering the protein-RNA correlation between genes on the X chromosome and autosomes. Eroded iPSC lines display ~13% increase in cell protein content, along with increased expression of ribosomal proteins, ribosome biogenesis and translation factors. They also showed significantly increased levels of active polysomes within the eroded lines. We conclude that erosion of XCI causes a major remodelling of the proteome, with translational mechanisms affecting the expression of a much wider range of proteins and disease-linked loci than previously realised.