• Question: What's is your favourite human chromosome and why?

    Asked by dtswoods to David, Gemma, Juhi, Matt, Stéphane, Yinka on 8 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: David Howard

      David Howard answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      I quite like chromosome 6. It has a region known as the Major histocompatibility complex region which is packed with loads of important genes.

    • Photo: Stéphane Berneau

      Stéphane Berneau answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      Hello, I am not sure I have a favorite one. However, I am fascinated by the Y chromosome. There is a gene SRY in the TDF region which is responsible for male sexualisation of gonads and then other organs. Just due to the presence of gene on a specific chromosome can be assigned male at birth. In absence of SRY, all genetic regulation will lead to female phenotype. What is yours?

    • Photo: Gemma Chandratillake

      Gemma Chandratillake answered on 9 Mar 2018:

      My *least* favourite chromosomes are the little ones with only one arm (the so-called “acrocentric” chromosomes, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, Y) because sometimes these chromosomes can get stuck together end-to-end (that is called a “Robertsonian translocation) and this can lead to the person who carries such a fusion chromosome being more prone to miscarriages or having children with genetic diseases.

    • Photo: Gemma Chandratillake

      Gemma Chandratillake answered on 9 Mar 2018:

      My *least* favourite chromosomes are the little ones with only one arm (the so-called “acrocentric” chromosomes, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, Y) because sometimes these chromosomes can get stuck together end-to-end (that is called a “Robertsonian” translocation) and this can lead to the person who carries such a fusion chromosome being more prone to miscarriages or having children with genetic diseases.

    • Photo: Matt Bawn

      Matt Bawn answered on 11 Mar 2018:

      I worked a lot on the Human Y-chromosome in Peru, so that is my favorite. We were using it to trace the history af human migration into the Americas which I though was pretty cool. Just as you can trace back maternal history using difference markers in mitochondria you can examin paternal lineages using markers in the Y-chromosome to define haplogroups. In general there hasn’t been as much investigation into the genetic diversity of American indigenous populations as for example Asia or Europe and we were trying to find new markers to get a “finer” view of the story.

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