Far fewer people are related to Genghis Khan than previously assumed, new genomic study suggests

Some experts have suggested as many as 1 in 200 men in the world are related to Genghis Khan. But a new genomic study reveals the number is significantly lower.

Men lose their Y chromosome as they age. Scientists thought it didn’t matter – but now we’re learning more

The Y chromosome doesn’t seem to do much except determine sex – but its loss in older men might be linked to heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Modern human DNA contains bits from all over the Neanderthal genome, except the Y chromosome. What happened?

Neanderthals, the closest cousins of modern humans, lived in parts of Europe and Asia until their extinction some 30,000 years ago.

Modern human DNA contains bits from all over the Neanderthal genome, except the Y chromosome. What happened?

Neanderthals, the closest cousins of modern humans, lived in parts of Europe and Asia until their extinction some 30,000 years ago.

Modern human DNA contains bits from all over the Neanderthal genome, except the Y chromosome. What happened?

Neanderthals, the closest cousins of modern humans, lived in parts of Europe and Asia until their extinction some 30,000 years ago.

Social change may explain decline in genetic diversity of the Y chromosome at the end of the Neolithic period

The emergence in the Neolithic of patrilineal social systems, in which children are affiliated with their father's lineage, may explain a spectacular decline in the genetic diversity of the Y chromosome observed worldwide between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago. In a study to be published on 24 April in Nature Communications, a team of scientists from the CNRS, MNHN and Université Paris Cité suggest that these patrilineal organisations had a greater impact on the Y chromosome than mortality during conflict. <p>This conclusion was reached after analysing twenty years of anthropological field data – from contemporary non-warlike patrilineal groups, particularly from the scientists’ own fieldwork carried out in Asia – and modelling various socio-demographic scenarios. The team compared warrior and non-warrior scenarios and showed that two processes play a major role in genetic diversity: the splitting of clans into several sub-clans and differences in social status that lead to the expansion of certain lineages to the detriment of others.</p> <p> </p> <p>This study calls into question the previously proposed theory that violent clashes, supposedly due to competition between different clans, in which many men died, were at the origin of the loss of genetic diversity of the Y chromosome. The results of this study also provide new hypotheses on human social organisation in the Neolithic and Bronze Age.</p>

MSN

The Y Chromosome Is Vanishing. A New Sex Gene May Be The Future of Men.

The sex of human and other mammal babies is decided by a male-determining gene on the Y chromosome.

New paper explains why females are prone to autoimmune diseases

A system that shuts down one of two X chromosomes is targeted by auto-antibodies.