The first attempt to determine the building blocks of our genetic code took place 20 years ago, but there were still significant gaps left in the sequences of all 23 pairs of human chromosomes.

Researchers have uncovered a "selfish" X chromosome in the fruit fly Drosophila testacea that manages to distort inheritance in both sperm and eggs. "But until now, we've only ever seen a ...

But some plants have taken a different approach. They have evolved sex chromosomes, the bits of DNA that make individual plants either male or female. In that club are organisms like the ginkgo ...

Modern humans diverged from Neanderthals some 600,000 years ago – and a new study shows the Y chromosome might be what kept the two species separate. It seems we were genetically incompatible ...

The molecules that silence a woman’s second X chromosome can confuse the immune system, a new study suggests. By Carl Zimmer Women are much more likely than men to have their immune system turn ...

Ancient DNA reveals first known case of sex-development disorder A prime suspect is the X chromosome: in most mammals, including humans, a male’s cells typically include only one copy ...