Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 22, 2026

Shifting Zebrafish Lethal Skeletal Mutant Penetrance by Progeny Testing
Published on: September 1, 2017
Extinction conditions for Y-linked mutant-alleles through two-sex branching processes with blind-mating structure
M González1, C Gutiérrez, R Martínez
1Department of Mathematics, University of Extremadura, Avda. Elvas s/n, 06006 Badajoz, Spain. mvelasco@unex.es
Abstract:
A new two-sex bidimensional branching process is introduced to model the evolution of the number of carriers of an allele and its mutations of a Y-linked gene. A population is assumed in which females and males coexist and mate without the gene influencing the mating process. It is deduced from the model that the key determining conditions for the extinction or survival of the allele are given by the probability that an offspring is female, the rate of mutation, and the mean number of offspring per mating unit. It is also proved that the destiny of the allele's mutations in the population also depends on the survival or extinction of the original allele.
Related Concept Videos
X-linked Traits
X-linked Traits
Sex-linked Disorders
The Y Chromosome Determines Maleness
Evolution
Around 300 million years ago, the two sex chromosomes diverged from two identical autosomal chromosomes. Over time, the Y chromosome has lost most of its genes, shrinking in size. Today,...
X and Y Chromosomes
The germline cells such as egg and sperm cells carry only half the number of chromosomes, i.e., 22 autosomes and one sex chromosome. All eggs have an X chromosome, while sperm cells can carry an X or...
Dosage Compensation
In addition to sexual development, the X chromosome has genes involved in autosomal functions such as brain development and the immune system. Therefore, males and females with distinct numbers of X chromosomes will have...

