Will Chromosome Y Go Bye-Bye?Excerpts from this article in today's news:"However, Melissa Wilson, lead author of the study and graduate research fellow at Penn State University, pointed out that if there is no difference between a male who has lost a particular gene and one who still retains it, especially if both are still fertile, then that gene must be nonessential.and:Dr. David Page, director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., and a Y chromosome expert. "The evidence from studies on natural deletions of [genes on] the human Y chromosome shows there are consequences, especially for sperm production, that implies very strong natural selection against the loss of genes on the human Y chromosome.""The key flaw in the logic [of Y chromosome deterioration] is the assumption that the Y chromosome can only lose genes," Page said. "But the human Y chromosome has gained genes not even on the X chromosome. Men who lose those genes do not transmit their Y chromosome."and:"The most fundamental [principle] to all evolution is reproduction," said Dr. Ronald Crystal, chairman of the Department of Genetic Medicine at Weil Cornell Medical College. "No one knows why the Y chromosome has more pressures to evolve. It may be that the genes are irrelevant. ... But evolution figures out a way to maintain reproduction."Me: I'm all for that.
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