While all human chromosomes contain repeats, more than 30 million letters of the Y chromosome — out of 62.5 million — are repetitive sequences, sometimes called satellite DNA or junk DNA.

This video segment from NOVA: "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" reveals how genetic evidence helped to confirm an important component of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection ...

This complete Y chromosome has 106 protein-coding genes, which is 41 more than in the reference genome. But almost all these extra genes are just copies of one gene called TSPY. At the same time ...

Getty A DNA junkyard The Y chromosome is very different from X and the 22 other chromosomes of the human genome. It is smaller and bears few genes (only 27 compared to about 1,000 on the X).

The human Y chromosome, responsible for determining male sex, finally has gotten an end-to-end examination. Researchers sequenced the chromosome, which contains many genes involved in sperm ...

The new sequence, which fills in gaps across more than 50% of the Y chromosome’s length, uncovers important genomic features with implications for fertility, such as factors in sperm production.

The chromosome associated with male development, which is the last mysterious piece of the human genome, has been fully sequenced by a team of more than 100 researchers around the world, including ...

The Y chromosome, associated with the development of male sex characteristics, has been notoriously hard to sequence, as it contains lots of repeated DNA segments. (Image credit: Shutterstock ...

Combined with the latest techniques for sequencing DNA, the researchers managed to add some 200 million letters to the human genome, resolving most of the holes in chromosomes 1 to 22.

The largest completed synthetic genome so far—that of yeast—is 12m base pairs (bp) long. The smallest human chromosome—number 21—measures 45m bp.

For decades, the Y chromosome — one of the two human sex chromosomes — has been notoriously challenging for the genomics community to sequence due to the complexity of its structure. Now, this elusive ...