barr body
Humans display dramatic deleterious effects with autosomal trisomies and monosomies. Therefore, it may seem counterintuitive that human females and males can function normally, despite carrying different numbers of the X chromosome. In part, this occurs because of a process called X inactivation. Early in development, when female mammalian embryos consist of just a few thousand cells, one X chromosome in each cell inactivates by condensing into a structure called a Barr body. The genes on the inactive X chromosome are not expressed. The particular X chromosome maternally or paternally derived that is inactivated in each cell is random, but once the inactivation occurs, all cells descended from that cell will have the same inactive X chromosome. By this process, females compensate for their double genetic dose of X chromosome. In so-called tortoiseshell cats, X inactivation is observed as coat-color variegation Figure 7.10 . Females heterozygous for an X-linked coat color gene will express one of two different coat colors over different regions of their body, corresponding to whichever X chromosome is inactivated in the embryonic cell progenitor of that region. When you see a tortoiseshell cat, you will know that it has to be a female.