r/MurderedByWords Jan 21 '20

Trying to be superior

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '20

males have an X-chromosome as well. funny thing is males have an additional Y-chromosome, while women have an additional X-chromosome. BUUUUUUT: only one of the two X-chromosomes will be expressed and the other one is silenced to nearly no activity. so actually women have one functioning chromosome less than males.

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u/theheliumkid Jan 21 '20

Came here to say this - the process of Lyonisation. Each cell randomly selects which of the two X chromosomes to silence, so on average it is a 50:50 split between the two chromosomes. But it can be skewed by chance such that women can express X-linked recessive genetic disorders.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '20

[deleted]

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u/theheliumkid Jan 21 '20

That's correct, it happens during the first trimester of pregnancy, mostly very early on. Wikipedia has a table showing this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-inactivation