SCIENTISTS CLOSE TO MAPPING MALE GENE WebPosted Tue Oct 31 16:02:33 2000 CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS--Three geneticists in the U.S. are on the verge of decoding malehood – the Y chromosome. Working as part of the Human Genome Project, David Page of the Whitehead Institute in Massachusetts and Robert Waterson and Rick Wilson of Washington University in Missouri expect to complete a map of the chromosome within months. A complete DNA sequence of the Y chromosome, the chromosome that's responsible for the male side of our species, would help researchers learn what causes gender-related conditions like male infertility. Human beings have 24 chromosomes that generally come in matched pairs, with one coming from the mother and the other coming from the father. But the chromosome that determines sex, made up of X and Y chromosomes, is an oddity because the pairs aren't necessarily matching. Girls have two Xs, which are similar, and boys have one X and one Y, which are very different. The Y chromosome has about two dozen genes or gene families, most of which are specialized to do one of two things: help make sperm or help cells perform essential "housekeeping tasks" such as building proteins. The X chromosome, on the other hand, has about 2,000 genes responsible for a wide range of tasks. The scientists plan to analyze the Y chromosome sequence and expect to publish their results some time next year. So far, only two of the 24 chromosomes have been completely sequenced as part of the Human Genome Project. In June, HGP and Celera Genomics, a U.S. company, jointly announced they had finished a rough draft of the human genome. Copyright © 2000 CBC All Rights Reserved |