Male sex chromosome is in danger of disappearing

An old genetic error threatens to disappear the male sex chromosome. But that does not have to mean the end of man. The recipe for a man actually only has one letter: Y. When an egg receives a Y chromosome from the sperm, the child becomes a boy. But if the sperm contains an X chromosome, it becomes a girl. The future does not look bright for the Y chromosome, however, as scientists have found that it is slowly shrinking. Over millions of years, the male sex hormone has dwindled mutation after mutation, which is why many scientists believe that men will become extinct. Some believe that the Y chromosome will oppose this, others believe it will mean the end of humanity.
It is uncertain how long the agony of the Y chromosome will last. Some scientists are betting on 4.6 million years, others think longer, because the Y chromosome has undergone only one mutation in the past 25 million years, and none since humans genetically separated themselves from the chimpanzee.
The Y chromosome is the only chromosome that is not needed for survival. Women can do without it, and in older men it eventually disappears.
A study of 62 Danish men showed that the Y chromosome stays healthy by altering its genetic structure, which maintains sperm production and prevents gene loss. But according to critics, this is a final twitch of the Y chromosome and will disappear suddenly, possibly as early as 100,000 years. Then three scenarios are conceivable:
- Man, and therefore man, is dying out;
- The function of the Y chromosome is maintained by technology;
- The function of the Y chromosome moves to other chromosomes.

The latter is the case in rodents that no longer have Y chromosomes. In mice, the genes that determine sex are in chromosomes other than the Y chromosome. In theory, scientists can therefore breed young without males.
The question is whether people who determine sex via the Y chromosome can have children with people who use a different sex-determining gene or chromosome. The children would likely be sterile or ambiguous. As a result, several genetically different species have arisen in rodents.
The death of the Y chromosome could therefore mean the end for homo sapiens, but also pave the way for new human species. Well, I am curious!

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Source: Original article (Dutch)