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The "selfish" sex chromosome

11.10.2017

The XY chromosomes mark the major genetic differences between male and female, explains Qi Zhou, researcher at the Faculty of Life Sciences. In mammals, the Y chromosome determines the male sex.

 

 

What is less well known: usually 90 percent of the Y chromosome consists of junk DNA that outcompetes functional elements. In his ERC project, biologist Qi Zhou investigates how it survived natural selection and what impact it may have on the genome. [read more]

(c) Ulrich Technau