Sex- and tissue-specific Bkm(GATA)-binding protein in the germ cells of heterogametic sex

Abstract

The ZZ male/ZW female system of sex determination (female heterogamety) is found in snakes and birds whereas XY male/XX female system of sex determination (male heterogamety) operates in mammals including humans. The W and Y chromosomes are largely heterochromatic and undergo cycles of condensation and decondensation in the germ cells of ovary and testis, respectively, whereas they remain highly condensed and transcriptionally inactive in all somatic cells. Both chromosomes have enriched stretches of GATA repeats along their entire length (which is identified as banded krait minor satellite DNA and called Bkm) that are highly conserved through widely separated orders of eukaryotes. Here we report the existence of a factor, which specifically binds to Bkm, in the germ cells of the heterogametic sex (ovary in female heterogamety and testis in male heterogamety) where decondensation (activation) of the W and Y chromosomes, respectively, occurs; it has been purified as a polypeptide of 57.5 kDa from the rat snake ovary and designated as Bkm-binding protein (BBP) by virtue of its binding to GATA repeats of Bkm. Such a sex- and tissue-specific BBP is also present in the ovary of other species of snakes and in the testis of mouse and human where the Y chromosome is highly decondensed. We suggest that GATA repeats of Bkm brings about a coordinated decondensation of the W and Y sex chromosomes in the germ cells of the heterogametic sex in response to BBP which may serve as a "switch" for the activation of the genes present on the W and Y chromosomes.