Role of sex chromosome complement in autosomal gene expression

It has generally been assumed that most differences between males and females are due to developmental and hormonal differences between the sexes. Here we investigate the contribution of sex chromosomal complement to such sexual dimorphisms. These genome-wide transcription profiling showed that the expression of hundreds of autosomal genes was sensitive to sex chromosome complement, rather than gender. The existence of such differences between males and females holds important implications for understanding sexual dimorphisms in physiology and disease hitherto attributed solely to gender or hormonal effects. Thymic total RNA was isolated from 7-8 week old mice, with 3 biological replicates for each of four genotypes with different sex chromosome complements