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Science 29 October 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5441, pp. 877 - 879
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5441.877
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News of the Week

EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS:
The Why Behind the Y Chromosome

Gretchen Vogel

On page 964, two geneticists report evidence for how the Y chromosome--which is much smaller than the X--ended up so different from its partner. The researchers analyzed genes still found on both chromosomes that have remained relatively unchanged for millennia, using them to piece together a rough history of how the chromosomes drifted apart. The distinctions between X and Y didn't happen gradually, they concluded, but in a stepwise fashion, implying that at least four distinct events--most likely rearrangements of the Y chromosome--drove the chromosomes apart over hundreds of millions of years.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Dosage compensation in mammals: fine-tuning the expression of the X chromosome.
E. Heard and C. M. Disteche (2006)
Genes & Dev. 20, 1848-1867
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
XXY Male Mice: An Experimental Model for Klinefelter Syndrome.
Y. Lue, P. N. Rao, A. P. Sinha Hikim, M. Im, W. A. Salameh, P. H. Yen, C. Wang, and R. S. Swerdloff (2001)
Endocrinology 142, 1461-1470
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Escapees on the X chromosome.
C. M. Disteche (1999)
PNAS 96, 14180-14182
   Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)