Will Chromosome Y Go Bye-Bye?

ABCNews ^ | July 18th 2009

[Steelfish]

Will Chromosome Y Go Bye-Bye? Is the End of Men Imminent?

By RADHA CHITALE ABC News Medical Unit

July 17, 2009

What makes a man a man? Socially, that is a complicated question. Genetically, however, it is as simple as a single Y chromosome.

Is the male Y chromosome disappearing?

But guys, that chromosome is in trouble.

In a new study, researchers say there is a dramatic loss of genes from the human Y chromosome that eventually could lead to its complete disappearance -- in the next few millennia.

While the Y chromosome's degeneration has been known to geneticists and evolutionary biologists for decades, the study sheds new light on some of the evolutionary processes that may have contributed to its demise and posits that, as the degeneration continues, the Y chromosome could disappear from our genetic repertoire entirely.

"It's certainly possible, but it's difficult to predict when it will happen," said Kateryna Makova, an associate professor of biology at Penn State University, who led the study, which was published Thursday in the journal PLoS Genetics.

Although geneticists and evolutionary biologists agree that the Y chromosome is degenerating -- and far more rapidly than its X counterpart -- they reject the idea of a world far in the future where men are obsolete.

[politicalmerc]

Have you ever really seen a “happy lesbian?” Those are the meanest, grouchiest, vilest people on earth. As my wife puts it: they need some . . . Oh nevermind. You get my drift.

[null and void]

Let's just say one of my roommates is a lesbian and let it go at that, mmmm'K?

And as far as what your darling spouse says,

Spot on, ma'am...

[SunkenCiv]

If it’s goin’ “bye-bye”, it ain’t a Y chromosome. ;’)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2295556/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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