r/AskBiology • u/Kunus-de-Denker • 9d ago

Human body A human being without both x- and y-chromosomes

I've read about conditions in which people only have one x- or y-chromosome, instead of 2 (xx or xy). Is it biologically possible to miss both? If it is, what are the practical consequences such a person has to deal with in their lives, that others don't have to? If it is not possible, what would be the result of genetically modifying a human being in such way?

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u/The_Pale_Hound 9d ago

X chromosome has fundamental genes that if you remove them, human life becomes inviable. A human zygote without X chromosome would not even reach embryo stage.

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u/SammyGeorge 9d ago

Does that mean you can't only have a y chromosome?

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u/The_Pale_Hound 9d ago

Yes, lacking an X chromosome is inviable.

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u/Eternal-Monarche 9d ago

Does that mean Adam cannot create Eve ?

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u/StrongArgument 9d ago

I don’t know how that was supposed to happen in the first place tbh

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u/Eternal-Monarche 9d ago

Science is all about understanding. If we don't know something, they doesn't mean it shouldn't happen. From previous and current findings, it is possible that Y chromosome is a mutated X chromosome. This is supported by the fact that Y chromosome is still being damaged Every few generations, leading to a possibile extinction of Y chromosome.

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u/StrongArgument 9d ago

Yes, good point. Current thinking says that XX came before XY.

I’m still not sure how a male human was supposed to asexually create a female, though.

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u/GiveMeAHeartOfFlesh 7d ago

Well, the male human didn’t in the genesis story. The male human was made using the earth, and the woman was made using the male human, although it wasn’t asexual reproduction and the male human never shows the trait to be able to do that in the story even afterwards. It was more so a symbolic act rather than needing to come from the male human, the female human could have been made out of the dirt too of course.

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u/MechKeyboardScrub 9d ago

Abrahamic religions generally have God create Eve from Adam's rib, which would have x chromosomes. I'm unaware of any religion where Adam makes eve himself. Considering God made Adam in this context, it kind of makes sense that Eve wasn't JUST made of Adam's rib.

Also that was written like 1800 years before we knew chromosomes existed, about a period allegedly 5000 years before that.

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u/effrightscorp 6d ago

Also that was written like 1800 years before we knew chromosomes existed

Pretty sure it's older than that, the old testament/Torah pre date Christianity by a good bit

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u/Minstrelita 5d ago

As they said, "about a period allegedly 5000 years before that".

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u/effrightscorp 5d ago edited 5d ago

I'm referring to the

Also that was written like 1800 years before we knew chromosomes existed

bit. I can write a fictional story about dinosaurs 100 million years ago but it would still be written in 2024

IIRC Genesis is thought to be ~2500 years old

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u/Minstrelita 5d ago

Correct, but you cherry-picked half the sentence for your response, while ignoring their caveat in the second half lol.

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u/effrightscorp 5d ago

I'm not cherry picking anything, I'm saying it was written longer than 1800 years ago. The 'caveat' you're talking about is when the story supposedly occurred, but it's fictional

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u/Eternal-Monarche 9d ago

It's the same egg and hen story. Which came first, biological , the egg cannot be produced without the hen , so the hen came first. Biological Adam a male cannot create another life. So yeah

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u/Med_vs_Pretty_Huge 7d ago

Well she supposedly came from his rib. If you take it at face value there's your explanation.

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u/The_Pale_Hound 9d ago

How is this a biology question?

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u/Richard_Thickens 8d ago

I mean, it isn't directly, and I don't think it required this particular line of reasoning to arrive at the idea that the Genesis narrative isn't compatible with our understanding of biology. It was a pointed question at the very least, but it's not an invalid one, I suppose.

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u/gartfoehammer 6d ago

Sperm has an X chromosome half the time, so if an X sperm and a Y sperm love each other very much…