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Aug 23, 2023 · WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Scientists have taken an important step forward in understanding the human genome - our genetic blueprint - by fully deciphering the enigmatic Y chromosome...
- Making baby boys. We have known for about 60 years that specialised chromosomes determine birth sex in humans and other mammals. Females have a pair of X chromosomes, whereas males have a single X and a much smaller Y chromosome.
- A DNA junkyard. The Y chromosome is very different from X and the 22 other chromosomes of the human genome. It is smaller and bears few genes (only 27 compared to about 1,000 on the X).
- Why the Y is weird. Why is the Y like this? Blame evolution. We have a lot of evidence that 150 million years ago the X and Y were just a pair of ordinary chromosomes (they still are in birds and platypuses).
- Sequencing Y was a nightmare. The first draft of the human genome was completed in 1999. Since then, scientists have managed to sequence all the ordinary chromosomes, including the X, with just a few gaps.
- How The Y Chromosome Determines Human Sex
- The Disappearing Y
- Rodents with No Y Chromosome
- What This Means For The Future of Men
In humans, as in other mammals, females have two X chromosomes and males have a single X and a puny little chromosome called Y. The names have nothing to do with their shape; the X stood for 'unknown'. The X contains about 900 genes that do all sorts of jobs unrelated to sex. But the Y contains few genes (about 55) and a lot of non-coding DNA– simp...
Most mammals have an X and Y chromosome similar to ours; an X with lots of genes, and a Y with SRY plus a few others. This system comes with problems because of the unequal dosage of X genes in males and females. How did such a weird system evolve? The surprising finding is that Australia's platypushas completely different sex chromosomes, more lik...
The good news is we know of two rodent lineages that have already lost their Y chromosome – and are still surviving. The mole voles of eastern Europe and the spiny rats of Japan each boast some species in which the Y chromosome, and SRY, have completely disappeared. The X chromosome remains, in a single or double dose in both sexes. Although it's n...
The imminent – evolutionarily speaking – disappearance of the human Y chromosome has elicited speculation about our future. Some lizards and snakes are female-only species and can make eggs out of their own genes via what's known as parthenogenesis. But this can't happen in humans or other mammals because we have at least 30 crucial "imprinted" gen...
Aug 23, 2023 · The human Y chromosome, responsible for determining male sex, finally has gotten an end-to-end examination. Researchers sequenced the chromosome, which contains many genes involved in sperm ...
May 17, 2022 · The existence of YO and WO systems. In a YO or WO system, all individuals of the heterogametic sex carry one sex chromosome, which segregates randomly to the gametes, producing a 1:1 sex ratio ...
After more than 20 years as a writer and editor, the former music journalist went back to university to build on her passion for wildlife and conservation with a Bachelor of Zoology, which...
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Aug 23, 2023 · De novo assemblies of 43 Y chromosomes spanning 182,900 years of human evolution reveal considerable diversity in the size and structure of the human Y chromosome.
