Men Will Be the Cause of Humanity’s Extinction – The Y Chromosome Is Failing
For several million years, men have been doing a great job in the field of reproduction. However, in recent decades, disruptions have started to occur. The “troublemaker” here is the Y chromosome. A man is an individual with a Y chromosome. More specifically, his sperm carries a pair of chromosomes – X and Y. In a woman’s egg, there are two X chromosomes, as noted by [xrust](https://xrust.ru/). The much smaller Y chromosome contains the SRY gene, which acts as a switch for the development of testes. Unfortunately, it has been established that over time, the Y chromosome is losing parts of itself. By creating a computer model to simulate the consequences, biologists discovered that in 11 million years, the Y chromosome could simply disappear altogether. The loss of the Y chromosome is a significant issue, as what it retains—or loses—can affect everything from cancer risks to how humans will reproduce in the future. However, some archaeological findings suggest that certain mammals continued to produce males even after their Y chromosome disappeared. That said, modern men are already paying the price for the defects in theirs.
The X chromosome carries around 900 genes, whereas the Y chromosome has only 55. Comparative analysis of mammals shows that after our lineage split from the platypus approximately 166 million years ago, the Y chromosome began losing about five genes every million years. Project this trend forward, and in 11 million years, the register will reach zero—a geological heartbeat. On a more optimistic note, the Japanese spiny rat and several species of mole voles are thriving today without a Y chromosome at all. Somehow, they’ve managed to rewire the traditional pathway for creating testes. In any case, evolution will likely find a way within the next 11 million years.
[xrust](https://xrust.ru/)
[Men Will Be the Cause of Humanity’s Extinction – The Y Chromosome Is Failing](https://xrust.ru/news/311353-muzhchiny-stanut-prichinoj-ischeznovenija-chelovechestva-podkachala-y-hromosoma.html)
https://xrust.ru/news/311353-muzhchiny-stanut-prichinoj-ischeznovenija-chelovechestva-podkachala-y-hromosoma.html
