Extinction: Human Y chromosome on the verge of extinction – but there’s hope: Study | Parami News

The Y chromosome, which is responsible for prescribing the sex of human and other mammal infants, is expressing gradual degradation and may vanish in a few million years or so, which incites worries of extinction. However, researchers from a study of the Sry-deficient Amami spiny rat undertaken in the year 2022 think that human evolution may change that, as a different male determining gene may be developed.

As per the statistics exposed in ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,’ limbless earth snake a particular Japanese species of rodent has developed a different male determination system in the absence of a Y chromosome. This discovery fuels the hypothesis of how humanity will most likely evolve in the near future. This study is trending on Google.

Among other mammals in which humans are included, women generally have two sex chromosomes X and men have one X and a considerably smaller Y. Or, rather very small Y and very small. Although it is so small, the Y chromosome still bears the crucial SRY gene, which is responsible for induction of male sex determination in the developing embryo. At around 12 weeks of gestation, SRY switches on a method of action that remembers the masculine characteristics of the natures of the seekah within the wombs that gives rise to the male sperm hormone hence turning the baby into a male creature.

The identification of the SRY gene was made in the year1990 with the specific function of triggering SOX9 which is a male determining gene present in all vertebrates. Certain sex chromosomes do not and cannot include SOX9, but this inhibits it, and SRY is responsible for its expression; hence their importance in male differentiation.

Still despite such stress, the human Y chromosome appears to be declining. It has lost approximately 900 genes in the last 166 million years with currently active genes only tallying at 55. If this trend persists, the Y chromosome may be lost in as few as 11 million years. This disturbing possibility has spawned fierce contention among scientists who hold diverse viewpoints on the perseverance of Y chromosome in humans with some claiming that the Y chromosome will never vanish while the others hold that it has nothing less than an expiration date.

On the other hand, this view is somewhat tempered by the fact that some rodents have no Y chromosome and are nevertheless alive. The mole voles from Eastern Europe and the spiny rats from Japan are both two previously Y-less mammals that are quite common to come across and have circulation. The X remains, though whether in one or two copies is present in both genders.

It even interested Asato Kuroiwa’s group from Hokkaido university, who have already made some progress in understanding the spiny rat. Nevertheless, the team found that a number of the Y chromosome genes in these rats had been transferred onto other chromosomes, though they still could not find SRY or any replacement gene for it.

Eventually, however, they managed to find a small duplication at the SOX9 locus of the chromosome 3 in male spiny rats. This small gain, only 17 basis pairs long and 7 and flat all male xm14, absent in female. The authors propose that this duplication harbors an SRY-response element that activates SOX9 even in the absence of SRY and the Y chromosome.

The most equipped gene for war could instigate a divergence of new species and that has been the case for mole voles and spiny rats.

This finding opens the possibility that a new sex-determining gene could evolve in human beings too. But it also carries risks. Different populations might develop different systems, which may ultimately result in splintering mankind into several strands, divided by their sex determination processes. After 11 million, earth might be populated by a multitude of different species of humanity, or not by humans at all.

This is a 2022 research paper but has managed to be trending on Google trends.