Researchers from Skoltech, the University of Potsdam, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered a fundamental physical law that governs the seemingly chaotic motion of chromosomes ...

In about one out of every 800 people, two chromosomes fuse together to form an unusual bond. These are known as Robertsonian chromosomes. It's a mystery that has long stumped scientists. Now, ...

Brain cells, or oligodendrocytes (green), in the hippocampus are marked with the GFP genetic marker in the mouse brain. These cells often deteriorate during aging. Image credit: Gadek et al., Science ...

Gene editing techniques may eventually allow trisomy to be treated at the cellular level, according to an in vitro proof-of-concept study. Down syndrome is caused by the presence of a third copy of ...

Sex is determined in a variety of different ways throughout the animal kingdom. In mammals, it is determined genetically, not by temperature, as it can be in reptiles. Typically, females have two X ...

“We’ve known that tiny fragments of ancient DNA can survive for long periods of time,” said Dr. Marcela Sandoval-Velasco of the Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics at the University of Copenhagen and ...

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 upwards ...

Newly generated, complete genomes for the sex chromosomes of six primate species may inform conservation of these endangered species and shed light on sex-related genetic diseases in both humans and ...

The molecules that silence a woman’s second X chromosome can confuse the immune system, a new study suggests. By Carl Zimmer Women are much more likely than men to have their immune system turn ...

The Y chromosome is perhaps the most puzzling part of the human genome. Associated with male development, it is chock-full of repetitive and inverted stretches of DNA, a hurdle that makes it ...

For many years, the human Y chromosome was terra incognita. Scientists completed the genetic sequences of other chromosomes, the threadlike structures that hold an organism’s DNA. But more than 50 ...