Theory of the 'Rotting' Y Chromosome Dealt a Fatal Blow

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120222154359.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2012) — If you were to discover that a fundamental component of human biology has survived virtually intact for the past 25 million years, you'd be quite confident in saying that it is here to stay.

Such is the case for a team of Whitehead Institute scientists, whose latest research on the evolution of the human Y chromosome confirms that the Y -- despite arguments to the contrary -- has a long, healthy future ahead of it.

Proponents of the so-called rotting Y theory have been predicting the eventual extinction of the Y chromosome since it was first discovered that the Y has lost hundreds of genes over the past 300 million years. The rotting Y theorists have assumed this trend is ongoing, concluding that inevitably, the Y will one day be utterly devoid of its genetic content.

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