From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Tue Sep 02 2003 - 02:25:03 MDT
Dr Sebby wrote:
<snip>
was the source of their
happiness the fact that they only had masturbation to deal with, and not
women?
</snip>
I was reminded of an article I read in the Sunday papers the other day
in which some or another eminent professor of genetics predicted the end
of the male, and also that women of the future would successfully
reproduce with one another using only x. The reason given for this was
that the y chromosome was riddled with defects and anomalies and would,
like the Marxist state, whither away.
Turns out the smurfs have no need to worry and may continue to cast
their seed upon the ground with gay abandon:
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/genome/thegenome/hg01n003.html
<snip>
The self-repairing Y chromosome unveiled
18/6/03. By MIT
In the biological battle between the sexes, the Y chromosome has
suffered defeat after defeat. The male-determining chromosome has seen
its gene supply shrink from more than 1000 genes when sex chromosomes
first evolved, to what scientists once thought was only a handful of
genes, a downward trend predicted to continue until the Y disappeared
altogether.
But two studies presented on 18 June 2003 and published in the journal
Nature suggest that the rumours of the Y's demise have been greatly
exaggerated. Researchers from Whitehead Institute for Biomedical
Research in Cambridge, Mass., and Washington University School of
Medicine in St Louis found that not only does the Y contain far more
genes than scientists thought - the team found about 78 genes - it also
includes a large number of genes arranged in pairs along this single
chromosome in ways that may allow the Y to mimic the paired chromosome
structure of the rest of the genome.
The Y contains more genes than expected and can repair injured genes.
The findings, involving observations in both human and chimp male
chromosomes, could explain how the Y repairs injured genes without the
benefit of sexual recombination - the method of gene repair used by all
other chromosomes. It's an elegant system that would debunk the theory
of a 'rotting Y' - the widely held notion that the male chromosome and
its dead or dying genes will continue to rot away over the next 5
million years until there's nothing left.
"We have a new way of understanding how the rotting tendencies of the Y
are counteracted," said lead researcher David Page.
All chromosomes in the nucleus come in pairs - except the Y. Each member
of a chromosomal pair draws on its mate for genetic repair through
sexual recombination. When one half suffers a genetic injury, as is the
case with many diseases, it can discard the mutated gene and replace it
with a normal copy drawn from the other member of the pair. But the Y
has no sexual 'partner' with which to swap out defective genes.
"Genes constantly are being bombarded with little injuries - mutations.
Mutations can either be beneficial or detrimental, but they are far more
often detrimental," said Page. "On the Y, detrimental mutations cannot
be discarded."
There's no question that this inability to discard has cost the Y
hundreds of genes over time. Many of the chromosome's genes either have
weakened or died out altogether. Sexual recombination is a card game the
Y just can't win. But this new research suggests it doesn't always need
to. For critical genes, it swaps with itself.
"This study shows that the Y chromosome has become very efficient at
preserving its important genes," said co-lead investigator Richard K
Wilson, director of the Genome Sequencing Center at Washington
University School of Medicine in St Louis. "It's found different ways to
do the things chromosomes must do to evolve, survive and thrive."
</snip>
Perhaps there are here at least some of the answers you requested Dr.
Sebby?
Fond Regards and love to the smurfs
Blunderov
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