End of Men? Is the Y Chromosome Deteriorating?

[Persephone]

The male chromosome is deteriorating according to a weird little story on ABC news, "Will Chromosome Y Go Bye-Bye? (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MensHealthNews/story?id=8104217&page=1&cid=yahoo_pitchlist)"

As you probably know, the 23rd pair of human chromosomes are the sex chromosomes, with genetic females having two X chromosomes (XX) and genetic males having one X and one Y (XY).

"In a new study, researchers say there is a dramatic loss of genes from the human Y chromosome that eventually could lead to its complete disappearance -- in the next few millennia."

If that's the case, MtF crossdressing could come to an abrupt end!

I kinda know what this feels like -- 15% of my cells don't have a Y chromosome at all (XO). Seems kinda funny to know that 65% of my chromosomes are female and only 35% are male.

Is crossdressing doomed?

[GaleWarning]

Seriously, I wonder if the phenomenon has anything to do with the increase in female hormones in the general water supply, due to birth control drugs etc.

On the lighter side, if the style of female clothing continues to deteriorate any further, who will want to CD in a few millenia?

[Violetgray]

I think that if the Y chromosome were to go extinct we'd have a much larger issue. All people, crossdresser or not would go extinct because there's nobody to get the women pregnant!

[GaleWarning]

No need to worry, Violet.
These days, it's all done in a petri-dish.
Life will be dull, though ...
:D

[Joy Carter]

I think that if the Y chromosome were to go extinct we'd have a much larger issue. All people, crossdresser or not would go extinct because there's nobody to get the women pregnant!

They found a way to get by us males now, but the result is all female baby's. Just what they have been wanting. But then who will open that pickle jar ? :D

[Josephine 1941]

Hi Persephone, What can I say , my daughter and her girl friend are due in Nov. it going to be a girl too. The way I think it went down is the egg was taken from the girl friend and fertlize and put in my daughter. I said I was happy for them. I my self am living with my GG she prefers me as a women, you would think that I would be pleased. I am realy having second thoughts. When we make love with me as a women she gose nuts and its real intense. She said that she loves men and is not a lez. I my self feel that I am now at least 80% women. :brolleyes: :daydreaming::chained::kickbutt::404::fs::sw::werd ::bye:

[MJ]

They found a way to get by us males now, but the result is all female baby's. Just what they have been wanting. But then who will open that pickle jar ? :D

let alone fix my car change the tires. and don't forget take out the trash :heehee:

[Gabrielle Hermosa]

"In a new study, researchers say there is a dramatic loss of genes from the human Y chromosome that eventually could lead to its complete disappearance -- in the next few millennia."

As Doc Brown would say, "You're not thinking 4th dimensionally, Marty!"

They like to do "alarming" stories in the news, keep that in mind. ;)

However lets operate under the premise that this is true to an absolute extent. The Y chromosome is on its way out by natural means, sometime in the next few millennia.

There is a lot of genetic research being done already and they're making great advances in that area. It is believed that in the next 20 to 40 years, the human life span may be increased to about 150-200 years via genetic manipulation (gene therapy). Look up futurist Dr. Michio Kaku some time - maybe watch one of his shows on the Science Channel. I love to ponder the amazing scientific advances that are just around the corner.

Anyway, in the future, if the Y chromosome were to truly fade out naturally, do you not think that the science of the future might also be able to correct for this?

An abscess tooth used to often spell death for people just over a hundred 100 years ago or so. With the advent of antibiotics and more advanced dental treatments, that's all changed.

Feeling a little better? :)

[Joni Marie Cruz]

They can have mine any time. I don't even like having it hanging around, so to speak.

Hugs...Joni Mari

[Samantha43]

On the lighter side, if the style of female clothing continues to deteriorate any further, who will want to CD in a few millenia?

:iagree:

[Lainie]

Remember: people are apes, mammals, vertebrates, animals. Males occur in all those groups, and remain a significant fraction of the population after millions of years of evolution. Y chromosomes exist only in males, so can't contain any genes necessary for the survival of the individual (else females could not survive). But male-linked genes do enable successful reproductive strategies, and hence are retained in the population.

Journalists act as entertainers rather than educators, sometimes.

[dawnmarrie1961]

Persephone, It about time we got rid of that pesky little bugger!! I knew we were all "mutants" to begin with. Mother nature is alot smarter than we think. If something doesn't work it is quickly replaced with something that does. Now we can really be the "EX-Men"!!

Anybody ever watch the movie "Enemy Mine"(1985), A soldier from Earth crash lands on an barren planet after his spacecraft sustains damage during a close encounter of the third kind. He soon finds another survivor,the enemy species he was fighting; reluctantly they team up to survive on this hostile world. Over time the human finds himself caring for his enemy in an unexpected way.(No ! Not in a space age , off world, Broke back Mountain kind of way!)
The Alien character, played by Louis Gossett Junior, is called a Drac. One of the truly interesting this about the Dracs is that they are not male or female but a combination of both.

If you haven't seen this movie I would really recommend that you do. I cried my eyes out at the end. Sometimes Hollywood gets it right!!

[Nicole Erin]

Oh gyod, this is assinine. So this is the latest scare in disease or gloom and doom?

Whatever happened to good ol swine flu? :brolleyes: How soon we forget..

I have this idiot friend who is always complaining about wishing the world would end and sometimes he mentions about the X chromosome going bye bye.

Do we really need to worry? If this is something that would take many years, would it matter? I mean isn't the AntiChrysler or whoever that guy that is going to end the world, suppose to be here any day now?

[AllieSummers]

We've always known that the females are far superior to males. That's why we're wanting to be like them. We're just doing what evolution is in a more compressed timeframe. :)

Seriously, if you believe that we are evolving then you would think that eventually sex would be out of the equation. We would have far more advanced brains and would probably have total control of emotion. We would be like machines. Babies would be grown not born.

I like it the way it is now. We have flaws but that is what makes us so interesting.

Kisses,

Allie

[dawnmarrie1961]

Oh gyod, this is assinine. So this is the latest scare in disease or gloom and doom?

Whatever happened to good ol swine flu? :brolleyes: How soon we forget..

Nicole, You have heard I'm sure the expression "All men are pigs"? Well there you go. SWINE flu!:eek:

[Crysten]

Saw a documentary on this a while ago - there is an isolated pool of fish in nevada or oregon (somewhere out there I forget exactly) and the entire population of this isolated fish species is female.

I believe they clone themselves somehow to continue the species. So...I guess we're all destined to be ALIEN CLONED FISH. A fine goal, and something we should all be working towards!!

:)

Crysten

[Lorileah]

We've always known that the females are far superior to males. That's why we're wanting to be like them. We're just doing what evolution is in a more compressed timeframe. :)

Allie

Which points out that we should be a maternal society and not paternal. You always know who your mother is...dad on the other hand, what can Brown do for you? ;). Wouldn't that be interesting for us, the subservient gender.

Lessee in a couple millenia I'll be...gone so it doesn't matter. Also by then the next ice age will have been going 500 years so keeping warm would be a higher priority than if you have a Y chromosome.

As Zager and Evans said (old fogey alert!)

In the year 6565, won't need no husband won't need no wife. You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too from the bottom of a long glass tube.

Test tube babies! I say spare the "rod" spoil the child!

[vivianann]

I agree with Allie Summers. I like the way things are.

[GaleWarning]

[QUOTE=Lorileah;1804583In the year 6565, won't need no husband won't need no wife. You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too from the bottom of a long glass tube.

Test tube babies! I say spare the "rod" spoil the child![/QUOTE]

This old fogey LOVES your sense of humour, Lorileah!

[Aeva]

The Y chromosome has been shrinking over time to weed out genes that otherwise appear on the X already. The reason for this is, the Y chromosome has a mechanism which makes it harder to recombine with the X, so effectively, any commonality between them is genetic garbage on the Y.

The only thing important to gender on the Y is 3 genes that cause the individual to form testicles at some pre-birth stage. If the Y chromosome got to the point where it is too f'd up, these genes could easily recombine on to another chromosome, either effectively restarting the process that made the Y in the first place.

Also, XY gender selection is just a mammalian thing; birds have something similar referred to as YZ (which is essentially the reverse of what we do). Some other pairing methods exist, but what I find interesting is that there are species which are genetically the same between both genders, and some other factor determines gender of individual, like it's egg's temperature when it was incubating.

Another interesting thing to point out, is it is possible to have a XX male or an XY female. In the former, the important gene from the Y had recombined with the X, and in the later, the important gene on the Y broke.

Chromosomal pairings are just a very small and early step in a longer, inductive process which produces an individual's gender as they grow. Hormones play a much more profound influence on brain development, and more obviously during puberty.

You can find a wealth of more information on this topic on wikipedia, under the y chromosome article.