Expression of the mammalian X chromosome before and after fertilization.

The activity of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase in unfertilized mouse ova and in mouse embryos at the two-cell stage is proportional to the number of X chromosomes present during oogenesis. This indicates that the enzyme is X-linked in the mouse and that inactivation of the X chromosome does not occur during oogenesis. However, the genetic dosage effect of the X chromosomes is not present after the increase in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase activity in the late morula and the blastocyst stages. These results indicate that the X-linked enzyme lacuts is expressed sometimne after fertilization but before the morula stage.