An inactivated X chromosome is called a ____.

Question

An inactivated X chromosome is called a ____. ​

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

An inactivated X chromosome is called a Barr body, named after Murray Barr who discovered the phenomenon in the 1940s. It is a condensed, darkly staining region seen in the nuclei of somatic cells of female mammals that have two X chromosomes. One of the X chromosomes in each cell is randomly inactivated during embryonic development, resulting in a mosaic expression of X-linked traits. The Barr body is the inactive X chromosome, which is coiled up and silenced by heterochromatin formation.

An Inactivated X Chromosome Is Called a ____