Closely related sequences on human X and Y chromosomes outside the pairing region

Abstract

During meiosis the human X and Y chromosomes form a synaptonemal complex which covers most of Yp and the terminal 30% of Xp (ref. 1). By analogy with the autosomes, this is presumed to reflect DNA sequence homology. It has been suggested that these regions of the X and Y chromosomes contain either related or identical loci which are distal to a site of cross-over2,3, and support for these ideas has come from the finding that an X-linked cell-surface antigen controlling gene MIC2 is related to a gene on the Y chromosome4. A number of DNA sequences have been shown to occur either on the X and Y chromosomes5 or on the X, Y and autosomes6,7. We have now isolated a sequence from the Y chromosome which is present on Xq and Yq. This region lies well outside the pairing segments, and sequence analysis reveals no base change in 1 kilobase pair (kb). This high degree of similarity between the X and Y chromosomes near the tips of the long arms is a strong indication that interchange can occur in this region.