Transcriptional consequences of autosomal trisomy: primary gene dosage with complex downstream effects

Autosomal trisomy is a common cause of human miscarriage, malformations and learning disability. Primary gene-dosage effects have been confirmed by recent transcriptome analyses. The importance (or existence) of trans-acting effects on disomic genes remains, surprisingly, controversial. In this article, I propose a model of the main genetic mechanisms that are responsible for producing the transcriptional derangement associated with trisomy. This has implications for future study design.