The following quotes clearly summarizes the X and Y chromosome's significance in this chapter of Ridley's Genome. "The body is the victim, plaything, battleground and vehicle for the ambitions of genes. The next largest chromosome after number seven, is called the X chromosome. X is the odd one out, the misfit. ... The X and Y chromosomes are known as the sex chromosomes for the obvious reason that they determine, with almost perfect predestination, the sex of the body." And Ripley concludes with " The idea of the gene in conflict with each other, the notion of the genome as a sort of a battlefield between parental genes and childhood genes, or between male genes and female genes, is a little-known story outside a small group of evolutionary biologists. Yet it has profoundly shaken the philosophical foundations of biology.
In summary, Ripley points out the function of these chromosomes; they determine the sex of the offspring. In addition he finishes as he mentions the conflicts that relate to these chromosomes such as the body being a "battlefield" and philosophical issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment