Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 19, 2025

Skeletal Muscle Gender Dimorphism from Proteomics
Published on: December 14, 2011
Extensive differential gene expression and regulation by sex in human skeletal muscle
Sarah C Hanks1, Abigail S Mauger1, Arushi Varshney2
1Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Abstract:
The identification of sex-differential gene regulatory elements is essential for understanding sex-differential patterns of health and disease. We leveraged bulk and single-nucleus RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and single-nucleus ATAC-seq data from 281 skeletal muscle biopsies to characterize sex differences in gene expression and regulation at the cell-type and whole-tissue levels. We found highly concordant sex-biased expression of over 2,100 genes across the three muscle fiber types and bulk tissue. Gene pathways related to mitochondrial activity and energy metabolism were enriched for male-biased expression, whereas those related to signal transduction and cell differentiation were enriched for female-biased expression. We found widespread sex-biased chromatin accessibility enriched in proximal and distal gene regulatory states; in gene promoters, sex-biased chromatin accessibility was positively associated with sex-biased expression. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) also showed extensive sex-biased expression in the fiber-type and bulk data, respectively. Together, these results highlight nuclear and cytoplasmic mechanisms for sex-differential gene regulation in skeletal muscle.
Related Concept Videos
Master Transcription Regulators
Dosage Compensation
In addition to sexual development, the X chromosome has genes involved in autosomal functions such as brain development and the immune system. Therefore, males and females with distinct numbers of X chromosomes will...
The Ratio of X Chromosome to Autosomes
Normal male Drosophila has a ratio of one X chromosome to two sets of autosomes. In contrast, normal female...
Regulation of Expression at Multiple Steps
What is Gene Expression?
General Transcription Factors

