Yes, No, Maybe? Is sex all in the chromosomes, or does it depend on the cells genome? Or does it depended on the cell type? Or do people think that cells are sexed, and that organs are as well? Does it actually matter (probably not, but work is slow tonight and procrastination is a wonderful thing)
Can you sex a cell?
- Thread starter weebee
- Start date
i'm not sure i understand the question. you do use the cells in sexing. explain your question.
weebee,
the answer to your question depends on what organism the cell in question comes from. If it’s from a plant or worm, the question of sex might be irrelevant as the organism might be a hermaphrodite. If you are talking about humans, then it is easy to determine the sex of the person from which the cell came from – merely test for the presence or absence of the Y chromosome (or Y chromosome genes). It would be more difficult to determine the sex of the organism from which the cell came from if the molecular nature of its sex determination mechanism has not yet been identified.
the answer to your question depends on what organism the cell in question comes from. If it’s from a plant or worm, the question of sex might be irrelevant as the organism might be a hermaphrodite. If you are talking about humans, then it is easy to determine the sex of the person from which the cell came from – merely test for the presence or absence of the Y chromosome (or Y chromosome genes). It would be more difficult to determine the sex of the organism from which the cell came from if the molecular nature of its sex determination mechanism has not yet been identified.
it's easier to look for barr bodies. y-chromosomes are such unhardy slipperly little things they sometimes slip right off the slide.
river-wind
Valued Senior Member
also, red blood cells don't have nuclei, so you can't check for a y-chromosome in them. I think all other body cells have nuclei, though. it's just the red blood cells which don't.
Swedish, I forget, as Barr bodies condensed, inactive, x-chromosomes?
Swedish, I forget, as Barr bodies condensed, inactive, x-chromosomes?
<I>as Barr bodies condensed, inactive, x-chromosomes?</I>
Yep.
The original question never said that we are specifically talking about humans (or mammals for that matter), so looking for Barr Bodies is not a universal answer to the original query.
Yep.
The original question never said that we are specifically talking about humans (or mammals for that matter), so looking for Barr Bodies is not a universal answer to the original query.
Y chromosome is not universal of all males, only mammals mainly. For many species sex is determined by a section of the X chromosome or only having one X chromosome or some other obscure way. Some animals are genetically hermaphroditic and only become one sex or the other depending on what genes are active.
riverwind, blood is used for the wbc.
whenever people wander into here they usually mean humans and barr bodies are reliable enough for that purpose. other species get tricky. but Y's are only an incomplete X anyway. since sex is dose dependant it could easily be XO like a chicken.
blah i'm sick of sex chromosomes. there are other interesting chromosomes too but no one ever wants to talk about them.
whenever people wander into here they usually mean humans and barr bodies are reliable enough for that purpose. other species get tricky. but Y's are only an incomplete X anyway. since sex is dose dependant it could easily be XO like a chicken.
blah i'm sick of sex chromosomes. there are other interesting chromosomes too but no one ever wants to talk about them.
river-wind
Valued Senior Member
ok, what's your favorite human chromosome, everyone? 
I like them all (though it's been 6 years since I looked at them all, so I don't remember most of them), though maybe the ones that determine my ability to see patterns are my favorite. it's hard to say.
I like them all (though it's been 6 years since I looked at them all, so I don't remember most of them), though maybe the ones that determine my ability to see patterns are my favorite. it's hard to say.
I don't have one favorite chromosome, as such. What I find more interesting is the syntenic relationships between the chromosomes of different species.
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Homology/view.cgi?map=ncbi_mgd&chr=9&tax_id=9606" target="new">Example</a>
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Homology/view.cgi?map=ncbi_mgd&chr=9&tax_id=9606" target="new">Example</a>
Sorry I went on holiday. I wanted the question quite vague because I wanted to see what people thought, and I did not want to limit the discussion to humans, or even multicellular organisms. I find the concept of bacterial ‘sex’ fascinating.
Human sex is legally taken as the characteristic of the being as represented by the chromosomes, gonads and genitals. (cells are composed of chromosomes, and compose gonads and genitals). (There is also some pressure within the legal arena to use the concept of ‘brain sex’, that is the sex of someone’s mind.) Quite a few people (i.e. intersex) have a variation with in these three factors due to chromosomal, genetic or developmental reasons.
Indeed the question of how to test for sex is problematic, and as far as I know the Olympic games have resigned themselves to only investigating complaints of sex cheating because the bar body test was so scientifically problematic.
I am aware of the pro-women’s movement in the US which would argue that there is a difference between male and female cells and that female cells and tissues should be included in drug research/trials. They also cite evidence from that transplant organs where the female to male success rate is very low, while male to male is very high.
I was wondering if there is a difference between male and female cells, and if so what type of difference this would be (chromosomes –sure but most of the genes important to sex development aren’t on the ‘male making’ Y chromosome, and having something is different from actually using it, so should we not be talking of a male genome rather than a Y chromosome?)
It would be quite possible that some cells in our body are neuter-in that they do not transcribe a male or female genome (lungs, finger tips, ect) while other places such as the genitals may be composed of sexed cells. Indeed in some cases of the intersex their gonads are composed of both male and female cells (testis and ovary).
Getting carried away….cheers
Human sex is legally taken as the characteristic of the being as represented by the chromosomes, gonads and genitals. (cells are composed of chromosomes, and compose gonads and genitals). (There is also some pressure within the legal arena to use the concept of ‘brain sex’, that is the sex of someone’s mind.) Quite a few people (i.e. intersex) have a variation with in these three factors due to chromosomal, genetic or developmental reasons.
Indeed the question of how to test for sex is problematic, and as far as I know the Olympic games have resigned themselves to only investigating complaints of sex cheating because the bar body test was so scientifically problematic.
I am aware of the pro-women’s movement in the US which would argue that there is a difference between male and female cells and that female cells and tissues should be included in drug research/trials. They also cite evidence from that transplant organs where the female to male success rate is very low, while male to male is very high.
I was wondering if there is a difference between male and female cells, and if so what type of difference this would be (chromosomes –sure but most of the genes important to sex development aren’t on the ‘male making’ Y chromosome, and having something is different from actually using it, so should we not be talking of a male genome rather than a Y chromosome?)
It would be quite possible that some cells in our body are neuter-in that they do not transcribe a male or female genome (lungs, finger tips, ect) while other places such as the genitals may be composed of sexed cells. Indeed in some cases of the intersex their gonads are composed of both male and female cells (testis and ovary).
Getting carried away….cheers