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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Rare African DNA Discovered in White British Males


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Multicolor fluorescence is one method that scientists use to study changes in human chromosomes, bundles of DNA in the nucleus of cells. In this case, chromosome three and the X chromosome have translocated, or swapped segments of DNA, because of mutation.

Humans have 23 chromosomal pairs, one of which determines gender—males have one X and one Y chromosome while females have two X chromosomes.

A new survey of genetic diversity in the United Kingdom has turned up a Y chromosome in white males that had previously been found only in West Africans. The discovery suggests that "native" Britons have more diverse genes than researchers had once thought.

Image courtesy NASA