Published on: 09/29/2023 – 17:24 Last updated: 09/29/2023 – 17:26
Does the male have the same luck as the female in terms of his genetic inheritance? Scientific studies show that men have a small chromosome, compared to women, that determines their maleness, called the Y chromosome. It has been difficult for scientists for a long time to analyze this chromosome in order to accurately identify its characteristics and to determine the reason for its gradual disappearance. Some scientists expect the male chromosome to disappear completely in the future. Nature magazine recently published two scientific studies by two research teams that were able to decode the Y chromosome. What was discovered? The answer is with Rabih Osbrahim.
There is a basic difference between male and female, determined by sex chromosomes. After years and years of painstaking work, scientists were finally able to explore the depths of the chromosome that determines the male sex, which is the Y chromosome. More than 50% of the length of the chromosome was missing in previous human genome maps. Two American research teams published the results of their work in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. The study showed precisely the genetic sequence within the Y chromosome.
Structure of the male chromosome © France 24
This achievement may help understand diseases and disorders in men, such as some types of cancer and the phenomenon of male infertility.
There are 46 chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell of the human body in the form of “pairs”, that is, 23 pairs of chromosomes. The twenty-third pair determines our gender, male or female. In general, a female has a pair of two homologous chromosomes, XX, and a male has a pair of two different chromosomes, XY. The father gives the Y chromosome to his male child.
Since its discovery, the male chromosome has appeared different in shape, as it appears short and small and represents one-third of the X chromosome. This is due to the long evolutionary history of the Y chromosome. It does not enter into “cooperation” with the X chromosome to accomplish what is called genetic recombination or genetic synthesis. It is a mechanism that enables the removal of all impurities in genes, such as correcting unwanted mutations, for example. In most cases, the male chromosome recombines itself. This phenomenon led to the loss of entire parts of the genes on the Y chromosome, which became short. As for the remaining genes inside it, they are very complex, with many twists and duplications of genes in all directions, which makes it difficult to read the DNA inside the Y chromosome.
If the hypothesis of its extinction is completely true, will males become extinct automatically? No, not sure. Among the living organisms currently living, there are a few that have lost the Y chromosome without the male sex disappearing. The gene or gene responsible for determining and shaping sex was gradually moved to other chromosomes within the cell nucleus. All this development occurs slowly and very slowly, lasting millions and millions of years.
