Battle of the Sexes - ix_a

It seems the mystic questions in the previous post were the outcome of my inability to grasp the knowledge or plain misunderstanding. I said;

Men trying to match up is understandable but why do women try to match down? What are those restrictions at cell level?

Based on the information in the article;

Men must increase gene expression on their lone X-chromosome to match the two X's possessed by women. A new study explains just how men manage to do that.

In mammals, cells therefore work to emphasize, or "upregulate," the lone X-chromosome in males and de-emphasize, or "downregulate," the extra X-chromosome in females.

However, it appears the both male and female X-chromosomes are upregulated (male X-> 2X and females 2X->4X). But females downregulate their upregulaged X-chromosomes (thus 2X same as males). From the new study;

Women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X and one Y. The lack of a 'back up' copy of the X chromosome in males contributes to many disorders that have long been observed to occur more often in males, such as hemophilia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and certain types of color blindness. Having only one copy of X and two copies of every other chromosome also creates a more fundamental problem -- with any other chromosome, the gene number imbalance resulting from having only one copy would be lethal. How can males survive with only one X?
Biologists have been debating how organisms and cells manage the imbalance between X and other chromosomes for years, with the dominant theory being that both sexes up-regulate the expression of X-linked genes, essentially doubling their expression to "2X" in males and "4X" in females. Then, to correct the imbalance that now appears in females (since they have the equivalent of "4" Xs now and 2 of every other chromosome), females then 'turn off' one of the hyperactive X chromosomes, resulting in a balanced "2X" expression of those genes across both sexes.

That doesn't lead to philosophical pondeings over the implications. Science sometimes acts as a dampener to imaginatively inclined imbecile.

Via Science Daily

Battle of the Sexes - ix

What makes a man? His clothes? His car? His choice of scotch? The real answer, says Brown University biologist Erica Larschan, is the newly understood activity of a protein complex that, like a genetic power tool, gives enzymes on the X-chromosome an extra boost to increase gene expression.

Men must increase gene expression on their lone X-chromosome to match the two X's possessed by women. A new study explains just how men manage to do that.

In mammals, cells therefore work to emphasize, or "upregulate," the lone X-chromosome in males and de-emphasize, or "downregulate," the extra X-chromosome in females.

I'm not sure of the significance of this study. Men trying to match up is understandable but why do women try to match down? What are those restrictions at cell level?

Via Science Daily

Battle of the Sexes - viii

Maybe this genetic study can be taken as a prototype to understand cultural traits too. How man created things like male god/s have negative effect on females or how patriachal ideals get perverted expression among females.

This battle, observed across many species and known as intralocus sexual conflict, happens when the genes for a trait which is good for the breeding success of one sex are bad for the other -- sparking an 'evolutionary tug-o-war' between the sexes.

 It has previously been thought these issues were only resolved when the trait in question evolves to become sex-specific in its development -- meaning the trait only develops in the gender it benefits and stops affecting the other.

However, a new study by the universities of Exeter (UK), Okayama and Kyushu (both Japan) published Nov. 4 in Current Biology shows this doesn't always bring an end to conflict -- as even when the trait becomes sex-specific, knock-on effects can still disadvantage the other sex.

Kensuke Okada, also from Okayama University, said: "The view that sex-limited trait development resolves this kind of genetic battle of the sexes is based on the assumption that traits are genetically independent of each other, which is frequently not true.
"What we're seeing here is that genetic architecture can provide a general barrier to this kind of conflict resolution."

Via Science Daily

Battle of the Sexes - vii

The stereotype has been confirmed. Women turn men corrupt. But it's unclear whether men from the corrupted generation then pass their corrupt outlook to the next generation or they reset themselves to their 'true man self' and teach altruism.

They found that because, historically, women moved about more than men, and so are less related to their neighbours, our paternal and maternal genes are in conflict over how we should behave -- with our paternal genes encouraging us to be altruistic whilst our maternal genes encourage us to be selfish.

'This leads to conflicts over social behaviour: the genes you receive from your father are telling you to be kind to your neighbours, whereas the genes you receive from your mother, like a demon sat on your shoulder, try to make you act selfishly.'

Via Science Daily 

I just remembered that there was a study that concluded mothers influence only their daughters and have no influence on their sons. That means selfishness is passed from mother to daughter but sons are immune or purely altruistic. So, even if we consider absent fathers where did all the selfish males come from?

Battle of the Sexes - vi

According to Freud girls' superego is never fully developed and they stay locked into the 'Electra Complex'. Because of this women are never as civilized or cultured as men. Very sexist. But a new study says women's sexuality is not as evolved as that of men.

Men's subjective and physiological measures of sexual arousal showed a greater degree of agreement than women's. For the male participants, the subjective ratings more closely matched the physiological readings indicating that men's minds and genitals were in agreement. For the women, however, the responses of the mind and genitals were not as closely matched as men's, suggesting a split between women's bodies and minds.

Via Science Daily

Battle of the Sexes - v

I couldn't control myself as the article heading used my regular post caption for the precise reason.

if a specific gene located on a non-sex chromosome is turned off, cells in the ovaries of adult female mice turn into cells typically found in testes. Their study, published in Cell, challenges the long-held assumption that the development of female traits is a default pathway. At the same time, it grants a valuable insight into how sex determination evolved.
In humans and most other mammals, an individual's sex is determined by its sex chromosomes: females have two X chromosomes, males have one X and one Y. Scientists had long assumed that the female pathway -- the development of ovaries and all the other traits that make a female -- was a kind of default: if it had a gene called Sry, which is located on the Y chromosome, an embryo would develop into a male, if not, then the result would be a female. But in adult animals it is the male pathway that needs to be actively suppressed,

I don't think male or female default pathway makes much sense. Or it doesn't at least to me. However, considering the fact that only one of the two X-chromosomes in female is activated, my belief is that genetically male is a high feature being than female. In other words, male is naturally both male and female but female is only female and wannabe male. In a different way, the present study also supports this position.

Via Science Daily

Battle of the Sexes - iv

Don't know if it belongs here but still...best of us don't survive says the article.

"The results support the suggestion that genes that are good for males may often be bad for their mates. Therefore, in beetles at least, multiple mating does not award females with genetic benefits," says Göran Arnqvist.

Via Science Daily

Battle of the Sexes - iii

I'm doing a groundbreaking research on South Indian children birth weights for the last six months or so as every person contemporary to me is becoming a parent. Whatever I have read over the net indicates that on an average boys' birth weights are higher than that of girls'. Not so in the case of South Indians if my data has to be believed.

Girls:
4.1Kg
3.7Kg
>4Kg

Boys:
2.5Kg
2.75Kg
<3Kg All of them belong to middle class. All mothers are working women. Then I come across this study:

Previous research has offered evidence of a genetic struggle for supremacy only during fetal development: In the womb, some genes of paternal origin have been shown to promote increased demands on mothers, leading to fetal overgrowth, while genes of maternal origin tend to have the opposite effect. This new work suggests maternal and paternal genes continue to engage in internal genetic conflict past childbirth.

I couldn't anyway apply this study to my observations. But I felt a connection.

Via Science Daily

Battle of the Sexes - ii

Although some of the genes on the Y chromosome have been maintained, most of them have died, and the team found evidence that some others are on track to disappear, as well. "Even though some of the genes appear to be important, we still think there is a chance that the Y chromosome eventually could disappear," said Makova. "If this happens, it won't be the end of males. Instead, a new pair of non-sex chromosomes likely will start on the path to becoming sex chromosomes."

Via Science Daily

Battle of the Sexes - i

Another change in neo-X that Bachtrog suspects is taking place is the elimination of genes that are harmful to females. Biologists have realized recently that some genes have opposite effects in males and females, and evolution is a tug of war between males jettisoning genes that they find detrimental only to have females put them back, and vice versa.

"A good place to put sexually antagonistic genes that are beneficial to one sex but detrimental to the other is on the sex chromosomes," she said. The Y always ends up in the male, she said, so genes on the Y chromosome won't affect females.
"Conversely, the X chromosome becomes feminized with genes that are good for the female but detrimental to the male," said Bachtrog, adding that the X also becomes demasculinized, losing genes that are of use only in the male.

Via Science Daily.