Mammalian Sex Chromosomes and Sex Determining Genes : An Evolutionary Perspective

This book investigates the genes and chromosomes that determine whether an embryo will develop into a male or female.

In humans and other mammals, females have two X chromosomes; males, a single X and Y chromosome.

The X and Y chromosomes, although they evolved from a regular pair of homologous chromosomes, are very different in size and gene content.

The Y bears the gene that determines male development, and here the authors discuss the hunt for this gene and the analysis of its function.

The book also describes how humans and mice with altered sex chromosomes or mutant genes, as well as closely and distantly related species, have been used to deduce how the X and Y evolved.