Role and control of X chromosome dosage in mammalian development

Many species have evolved sex chromosomes with highly divergent gene content, such as the X and Y chromosomes in mammals. As most non sex-specific genes probably need to be expressed at similar levels in males and females, dosage compensation mechanisms are in place to equalize the gene dosage between the sexes, and possibly also between sex chromosomes and autosomes. In mammals, one out of two X chromosomes is inactivated early during development in a process called X-chromosome inactivation that has been investigated intensively in the 50 years since it was discovered. Less is known about the potential functional roles of X-linked gene dosage, for example in controlling development in a sex-specific manner. In this review, we discuss the evolution of dosage compensation and how it is controlled during embryogenesis of mammals. In addition we will summarize evidence on the potential role of X chromosome number during early development.