sex chromosomes; inheritance of sex A video about sex chromosomes and the inheritance of biological sex. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. See all videos for this article

Sex chromosome, either of a pair of chromosomes that determine whether an individual is male or female. The sex chromosomes of human beings and other mammals are designated by scientists as X and Y. In humans the sex chromosomes consist of one pair of the total of 23 pairs of chromosomes. The other 22 pairs of chromosomes are called autosomes.

Read More on This Topic sex: Sex chromosomes In most species of animals the sex of individuals is determined decisively at the time of fertilization of the egg, by means of chromosomal...

Individuals having two X chromosomes (XX) are female; individuals having one X chromosome and one Y chromosome (XY) are male. The X chromosome resembles a large autosomal chromosome with a long and a short arm. The Y chromosome has one long arm and a very short second arm. This path to maleness or femaleness originates at the moment of meiosis, when a cell divides to produce gametes, or sex cells having half the normal number of chromosomes. During meiosis the male XY sex-chromosome pair separates and passes on an X or a Y to separate gametes; the result is that one-half of the gametes (sperm) that are formed contains the X chromosome and the other half contains the Y chromosome. The female has two X chromosomes, and all female egg cells normally carry a single X. The eggs fertilized by X-bearing sperm become females (XX), whereas those fertilized by Y-bearing sperm become males (XY).

Unlike the paired autosomes, in which each member normally carries alleles (forms) of the same genes, the paired sex chromosomes do not carry an identical complement of genetic information. The X chromosome, being larger, carries many more genes than does the Y. Traits controlled by genes found only on the X chromosome are said to be sex-linked (see linkage group). Recessive sex-linked traits, such as hemophilia and red–green colour blindness, occur far more frequently in men than in women. This is because the male who inherits the recessive allele on his X chromosome has no allele on his Y chromosome to counteract its effects. The female, on the other hand, must inherit the recessive allele on both of her X chromosomes in order to fully display the trait. A woman who inherits the recessive allele for a sex-linked disorder on one of her X chromosomes may, however, show a limited expression of the trait. The reason for this is that, in each somatic cell of a normal female, one of the X chromosomes is randomly deactivated. This deactivated X chromosome can be seen as a small, dark-staining structure—the Barr body—in the cell nucleus.

The effects of genes carried only on the Y chromosome are, of course, expressed only in males. Most of these genes are the so-called maleness determiners, which are necessary for development of the testes in the fetus.

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Several disorders are known to be associated with abnormal numbers of sex chromosomes. Turner’s syndrome and Klinefelter’s syndrome are among the most common of these. See also X trisomy; XYY-trisomy.