Talk:Homologous chromosome
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Article Grading: The following comments were left by the quality and importance raters: (edit ยท refresh) Rated "high" as highschool/SAT biology content, part of meiosis and chromosome. - tameeria 04:53, 9 March 2007 (UTC) |
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Why is one chromosome longer than another in sex chromosomes, such as x is longer then Y?
The X and Y chromosomes (not in all species) define whether an organism is male or female. The Y chromosome actually contains very few genes, whilst the X chromosome carries many more, hence the difference in lengths. This is why it is possible to get sex-linked genetic diseases, such as haemophilia, where the chances of a male displaying symptoms are much higher than a female. (it is also why tortoiseshell cats are invariably female - both the "ginger" and the "black" alleles are on the X chromosome. As the male only has one copy of the X chromosome, it can only show one of the colours in its coat)
