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KMID : 0613820030130060958
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Journal of Life Science
2003 Volume.13 No. 6 p.958 ~ p.969
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Human Y Chromosome: Structure, Function and Evolution
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Hong Kyung-Won
Hur Jae-Won
Kim Hee-Soo
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Abstract
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The human Y chromosome is strictly paternally inherited and does not X-Y crossing over during male meiosis in most of its length. Although this region came to be known as the non-recombining region Y (NRY), it was renamed as male-specific region Y (MSY) due to abundant recombination. The MSY is a mosaic of heterochromatic sequences and three classes of euchromatic sequences: X-transposed, X-degenerated and ampliconic. The X-transposed sequences exhibit 99% identity to the X chromosomal sequences. The X-degenerate sequences are remnants of ancient autosomes from which the modern X and Y chromosomes evolved. Eight palindromes of the ampliconic comprise one-quarter of the euchromatic DNA of the male-specific region of the human Y chromosome. They contain many testis-specific genes and typically exhibit 99.97% intra-palindromic (arm-to-arm) sequence identity. The arms of these palindromes must have subsequently engaged in gene conversion, driving the pair arms to evolve it concert. Averages of approximately 600 nucleotides per newborn male have undergone Y-Y gene conversion, which has had an important role in the evolution of multi-copy testis gene families in the MSY.
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KEYWORD
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evolution, gene function, structure, human Y chromosome, male-specific region Y
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