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From: dick@ucsfcca.UUCP (Dick Karpinski)
Newsgroups: net.bio
Subject: Re: Human Genetics (a query)
Message-ID: <393@ucsfcca.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Aug-85 06:35:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucsfcca.393
Posted: Sun Aug  4 06:35:33 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Aug-85 09:34:24 EDT
References: <241@weitek.UUCP>
Reply-To: dick@ucsfcca.UUCP (Dick Karpinski)
Organization: UCSF Computer Center
Lines: 21

In article <241@weitek.UUCP> mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) writes:
>I have a question about biology that some netter should be able to
>answer:  Do human X and Y chromosomes recombine?
>
I read something about that in the last month or so (Science News?
SciAm?) which suggested that the mechanism which keeps the sex
related genes from being recombined CAUSED the morphological
differences to arise.  I think the mechanism is of great interest
but very little understood.  The recombination is normally a good
thing, but with sex you want only male and female, not a little
of one and a little of the other.  Since the recombination is
suppressed, mutations are passed along whole.  Over a long time,
the differences between x and y became visible at the light
microscope level.  I'd be interested in a better answer too.

Dick
-- 
Dick Karpinski    Manager of Unix Services, UCSF Computer Center
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