[aruna]

Anu asked the Naked Scientists:
Could you inject a donor x-chromosome into a recipient ovum? What would happen?
What do you think?

[chris]

I'd say yes you could, because that's effectively how cloning works with the exception that in this instance the entire genome (all chromosomes) is injected rather than just one.

Scientists have also recently produced miniature artificial chromosomes which can be injected into mouse embryos where they are propagated into the cell progeny like any other chromosome.

So my prediction would be that you could inject an X chromosome into a cell and, just like multiple X chromosomes in human syndromes like Kleinfelter's, the bulk of the genes on either the native X chromosome, or the one you had injected, would be inactivated. Which was targeted for inactivation in different cells would be random, according to the Lyon hypothesis.

Chris