Chromosome Y News and Research

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The Y chromosome is one of the two sex chromosomes in humans (the other is the X chromosome). The sex chromosomes form one of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes in each cell. The Y chromosome spans about 58 million base pairs (the building blocks of DNA) and represents almost 2 percent of the total DNA in cells.

Each person normally has one pair of sex chromosomes in each cell. The Y chromosome is present in males, who have one X and one Y chromosome, while females have two X chromosomes.

Identifying genes on each chromosome is an active area of genetic research. Because researchers use different approaches to predict the number of genes on each chromosome, the estimated number of genes varies. The Y chromosome likely contains between 70 and 200 genes. Because only males have the Y chromosome, the genes on this chromosome tend to be involved in male sex determination and development. Sex is determined by the SRY gene, which is responsible for the development of a fetus into a male. Other genes on the Y chromosome are important for male fertility.

Many genes are unique to the X or Y chromosome, but genes in an area known as the pseudoautosomal region are present on both chromosomes. As a result, men and women each have two functional copies of these genes. Many genes in the pseudoautosomal region are essential for normal development.

Genes on the Y chromosome are among the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 total genes in the human genome.

High error rates found in human egg cells

A new study has found that there is a high level of meiotic recombination failure in human immature egg cells (oocytes).

10 Dec 2020

Chemotherapy combined with blinatumomab increases survival for patients with Ph-negative B-ALL

A study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that first-line treatment with a regimen of chemotherapy combined with the monoclonal antibody blinatumomab resulted in increased survival and achieved a high rate of measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity for patients who were newly diagnosed with a high-risk form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) known as Philadelphia chromosome-negative B-cell ALL (Ph-negative B-ALL).

7 Dec 2020

Genetic variants in pediatric cancer survivors of African ancestry increase risk of heart problems

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital recently identified genetic variants in childhood cancer survivors of African ancestry that increase their risk of treatment-related heart problems.

7 Dec 2020

Study identifies multiple important genomic differences in BCL malignancies using genomic ancestry

B-cell lymphoma and leukemias (BCL) are a diverse set of malignancies. While the genomic landscape of many BCL subtypes has been described, genomic ancestry has rarely been explored.

6 Dec 2020

Researchers develop a promising fix to CRISPR-Cas9's unwanted changes problem

A group of researchers developed a promising fix to CRISPR-Cas9's problem with unwanted genetic changes using a method that allows them to turn off gene-editing until it reaches key cell cycle phases where more accurate repairs are likely to happen.

4 Dec 2020

Study outlines a new role for pregnancy-associated plasma protein A in gestational diabetes

Laboratory research and analysis of epidemiological data by Silvia Corvera, MD, and Tiffany Moore Simas, MD, MPH, MEd, and colleagues show that low levels of a protein commonly seen in screening tests for chromosomal disorders during the first trimester of pregnancy is associated with adipose tissue remodeling, glucose resistance and gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant women.

30 Nov 2020

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein shows slow but stable evolution, study finds

A new preprint published in November 2020 describes the seven different clades into which the virus has diversified.

27 Nov 2020

Long-range regulation of tumor suppressor genes plays key role in cancer

Enhancers are regulatory elements that play an important role in cancer.Researchers from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state's only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, identified a novel enhancer.

25 Nov 2020

Researchers develop recombinant SARS-CoV-2 model to aid vaccine and antiviral research

Researchers have developed a fluorescent reporter gene-bearing recombinant form of SARS-CoV-2, which is capable of replication.

23 Nov 2020

Research can bring new possibilities for earlier diagnosis, preventive treatment of dementia

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have studied the incidence and regional distribution of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in the brains of people with Down's syndrome.

23 Nov 2020

Hyperbaric oxygen treatments in healthy adults can reverse the aging process, finds study

A new study from Tel Aviv University and the Shamir Medical Center in Israel indicates that hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBOT) in healthy aging adults can stop the aging of blood cells and reverse the aging process.

19 Nov 2020

Men and women may require different brain tumor therapy, study finds

The current study shows that the sex differences in the tumor phenotype vary with the effect of the enhancer regulatory molecule bound to Brd4 on the course of stem cell-like differentiation in male and female GBM cells. Inhibition of Brd4 by genetic and pharmacological factors also varies in males and females, both in vivo and in vitro.

11 Nov 2020

Host genetic "super-variants" may increase COVID-19 death risk

Researchers at Yale University have identified genetic variants among people of white British ancestry that may increase the risk of dying from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – the illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

11 Nov 2020

Genetic mutation may accelerate heart function decline in DMD patients

A mutation in the gene that causes cystic fibrosis may accelerate heart function decline in those with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a new study by UT Southwestern researchers suggests.

4 Nov 2020

Study sheds new light on cell division fidelity, can impact future regenerative medicine

Researchers discover that a specialized part of the chromosomes, essential for a correct cell division, is smaller and weaker in stem cells, when compared to the ones of differentiated cells.

29 Oct 2020

UVA research sheds light on how cancer remodels our chromosomes

Cancer remodels the architecture of our chromosomes so the disease can take hold and spread, researchers at the University of Virginia have revealed.

27 Oct 2020

Study finds new transposon-derived genes related to autism

The lack of some genes in the BEC/TCEAL cluster could be related to some alterations associated with the autism spectrum disorder, according to a preclinical study published in the journal Genome Biology, and led by Professor Jordi Garcia Fernàndez, from the Faculty of Biology and the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona, and researcher Jaime Carvajal, from the Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology - University Pablo de Olavide.

27 Oct 2020

Researchers find a new therapeutic approach to combat leukemia

Leukemia frequently originates from the so-called leukemic stem cell, which resides in a tumor promoting and protecting niche within the bone marrow. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, have found a new way to make these cells vulnerable by specifically dislodging these cells from their niches.

23 Oct 2020

$109 million NIH grant awarded to expand Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome research

The Alzheimer's Biomarkers Consortium - Down Syndrome, a multi-institution research team, co-led by members from the University of California, Irvine, has been awarded an unprecedented five-year, $109 million grant by the National Institutes of Health, to expand research on the biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome.

22 Oct 2020

Distinct DNA methylation signature found in the cord blood of newborns diagnosed with ASD

A new study led by UC Davis MIND Institute researchers found a distinct DNA methylation signature in the cord blood of newborns who were eventually diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).