Women are born with two X chromosomes and inherit one from each parent. But in every cell of their body, just one X chromosome is needed—so the other is randomly inactivated. Some cells use only ...

X-chromosome inactivation affects age-related decline in spatial memory. Older female mice show poor spatial memory when their paternal X chromosome is inactive and only the maternal copy is active.

The Y chromosome in primates — including humans — is evolving much more rapidly than the X chromosome, new research on six primate species suggests. For instance, humans and chimpanzees share ...

Which X chromosome is shut off (the paternally inherited one or the maternally inherited one) is random and independent within each cell. So women are all genetic mosaics: ...

Female mammals typically carry two X chromosomes — one from each parent — and a new study suggests that the maternal X is linked to faster brain aging. Skip to main content Open menu Close menu ...

Surprisingly, in several different cell types of the hippocampus, the X chromosome that was supposed to be silent instead expressed about 20 genes. Many of them play a role in brain development, as ...

X chromosome mutations can cause intellectual disability, and the X chromosome is thought to be crucial to brain health. Since many genes that are related to the brain are on the X chromosome, the ...

Normally, one X chromosome is inactive in every cell, but in people with lupus, there was less inactivation or “skewing” compared to healthy people. Additionally, skewing was more pronounced if renal ...

One of the 22 genes that had 'escaped' silencing on the X chromosome, PLP1, stood out to the researchers. PLP1 helps build the neural insulation, or myelin, that surrounds the brain's wires, so ...

The human Y did once contain as many genes as the X chromosome, but has lost them in the past 166 million years. As a result, most of the Y today is made up of repetitive "junk DNA." ...