What are the "features" stored in the X & Y chromosomes. Are their contents different in males and females?

Question

So here goes: Humans inherit X&Y chromosomes, but what exactly are we inheriting through them? Are we (only) inheriting a set of traits through X, and not Y, and vice versa? If so, are there any general traits that anyone can specify? Also, do the traits in X and Y vary with gender; i.e., do the tratis in X/Y vary in males and females?

Answer 1

X and Y chromosomes are still be studied to determine what we inherit from each, which is to say which instructions are specific to the X chromosome or the Y chromosome.

We know that the X chromosome is longer than the Y, so for some features on the X chromosome there is no "match" to alter or buffer it. Male pattern baldness may be one of these traits carried on the X chromosome. Most varieties of color blindness may be carried this way. We also know that the instructions for primary and secondary sexual development are in these X and Y chromosomes.

The recent completion of the human genome is the BEGINNING of detailed understanding of these instructions, chromosome pair by pair.

Answer 2

It is hard to know exactly how many gene products are duplicated on the X and Y chromosomes. By first guess I would say that there shouldn't be too much overlap, and that the Y chromosome simply contains a few extra genes that alter men from women. However, wikipedia (of all places!) has some of the contents of the Y and X chromosome:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_chromosome#Genes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_chromosome

Most sex-linked traits are just on the X chromosome, having no equivalent in the Y. These are such traits as color blindness, hemophilia, fragile X syndrome, among many others. Genes in the Y chromosome mainly deal with spermatogenesis. Data suggests that up to 72% of the Y chromosome genes are shared with the X chromosome (although the X chromosome still has many more than the Y).

Answer 3

X and Y chromosomes are two of 24 that you inherit from your parents. Females recieve two X chromosomes, and males recivie and X and a Y. These are used to determine Sex of the embryo. So these chromosomes contain millions of copies of DNA which code for proteins, that will be used to help create the female or male body along with the other chromosomes. And well a whole bunch of other things, but thats a whole different topic.

Answer 4

I thought there were more than 5 genes on the Y chromosome, but not much more. The Y chromosome is difficult to sequence because it contains these few genes duplicated over and over again and the rest of it is a morass of redundant short DNA patterns. It is true that most Y genes are just involved in establishing "maleness" and are expressed solely in the brain and testes.

I feel a joke coming on.....

Answer 5

a male is a male because he has a pair of chromosomes XY and a females has a pair of XX, this chromosomes have the DNA that contains the genes that translate to certain proteins that gives us the phenotype of a male or female... in males both chromosomes are active, in females one X chromosome is inactive... this way a female inherits the X chromosome to all of it children and the male is the one that determines the sex of the baby by iheritibg the X or the Y..

Answer 6

There is an enzyme that is activated by the y chromosomes. It is activated at about 3 month after conception while in the womb, and turn the ovaries into testicles. This causes the distinction between male and female. The major physical differences between males and females besides the genitalia comes from the hormones created by either the testicles or ovaries.

Answer 7

There are 1049 genes on the X , and only 5 on the Y. All 5 Y genes are involved in making the developing fetus male, since the default state in humans is female.