By later this winter, scientists hope to have worked out the DNA sequence of the Y chromosome the identity of its DNA building blocks. The work should help researchers learn about causes of male infertility, because it'll help them identify genes on the Y that men need to make sperm. It should also give a big push to understanding the evolution and functions of the chromosome, a quest that went nowhere for decades until just the 1980s. In fact, one expert says earlier failures to understand the Y have given it a bad reputation as a genetic couch potato, and he hopes new DNA studies will finally gain it some respect.
Chromosomes are the microscopic rods that hold genes.
Chromosomes generally come in matched pairs, with one member of each pair from Mom and the other from Dad. The Y chromosome, if inherited from the father, makes a baby boy. But having studied it for about 20 years, Page sees it as more of a national park, full of unusual natural features. The sequencing of the Y is being overseen by Page and Robert Waterston and Rick Wilson of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The sequence will cover 20 million to 30 million of its 60 million building blocks, because the missing portion resists current sequencing technology and appears relatively inert anyway.